{news} Fw: USGP-INT Voting period begins on IC Proposal: Draft Statement onIsraeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Call for BDS endorsement byInternational Green Parties

[Justine McCabe]

FYI,


This proposal is now being voted on in the International Committee
Justine
Co-Chair, IC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Herrick" <estebandido at gmail.com>
To: "USGP International Committee" <usgp-int at gp-us.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:08 AM
Subject: USGP-INT Voting period begins on IC Proposal: Draft Statement 
onIsraeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Call for BDS endorsement byInternational 
Green Parties


Dear IC,

We have not been able to reach consensus on this proposal. According
to our bylaws, we now move to a vote by the full committee with
passage requiring a majority vote. The language of the statement
itself has received support by most committee members, both in the
earlier straw vote and in the discussion period that just ended.
However, several IC delegates wish to include a further step in which
the proposal is sent to the GPUS NC for an additional vote after IC
approval.

A majority of delegates have indicated the belief that the proposal
complies with a directive to the IC by GPUS NC in Proposal 190. Our
GPUS Steering Committee (SC) liaison, Jill Bussiere has suggested the
statement only needs to be reviewed by the SC.

Therefore, if the IC passes this proposal, it will go to the Steering
Committee (SC) for review before being implemented. The SC will have
the option of sending it to the NC.

The vote will take place on our list beginning today, Tuesday, March
31, 2009, ending Monday, April 6, 2009 at 10 PDT.

We look forward to everyone's participation.

Peace,

Justine McCabe and Steve Herrick

Co-chairs, International Committee, GPUS


-----------------------------------------------------

PROPOSAL: Draft Statement on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Call for
BDS endorsement by International Green Parties

PRESENTER: International Committee, GPUS

CONTACT: Justine McCabe justinemccabe at earthink.net

SUBJECT: DRAFT Green Party Statement on Gaza Crisis and the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Call for Boycott, Divestment Sanctions
Against Israel

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Implementation of the GPUS International
Committee’s mission as directed by GPUS Prop 190 of November 21, 2005,
“The GPUS National Committee directs the International Committee to
work with our sister Green parties around the world in implementing an
international boycott.” http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_11_28.shtml

In keeping with Prop 190, and in response to the three-week Israeli
assault on Gaza beginning in December 2008, the International
Committee considered a draft statement to be circulated among
international Green Parties urging them to join our party in endorsing
the Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. That
statement was discussed at length among IC members and a straw poll
revealed majority support for it. This proposal is an opportunity for
the IC to formally endorse the statement with the intention of
circulating it among international Green Parties for endorsement of
the BDS campaign as directed by GPUS Prop 190. If this proposal
passes, it would go to the GPUS Steering Committee (SC) for review.

FULL PROPOSAL: Draft statement is below

TIME LINE: Voting: beginning Monday, March 30, 2009 ending Sunday,
April 5, 2009 at 10 pm PDT

RESOURCES: Lobbying efforts by members of GPUS International Committee

REFERENCES:

http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/democracy.html#310677 ;
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_11_28.shtml;
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/response_on_palestine.html





====================================================================

DRAFT Green Party Statement On Gaza Crisis and the Palestinian-Israeli 
Conflict:

A Call for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Against Israel

Although Green Parties represent different countries and regions of
the world, we share common principles essential to understanding and
resolving this conflict. Among these principles are non-violence,
including consistent enforcement of international law; ecological
wisdom and sustainability, including reducing the negative impact of
humankind on the natural environment; and social justice, thereby
rejecting discrimination based on gender, class or ethnicity.

These principles guide our response to the recent crisis in Gaza that
began on December 27, 2008 in which we condemn the killing of
civilians, condemn the excessive and disproportionate force used by
Israel, the Occupying Power in Gaza, call for a full and continuing
ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas government in Gaza, and a
complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces with the opening of all
border crossings in Gaza

As of January 18, the Gaza crisis resulted in displacement of
thousands of Palestine, the injury of more than 5,300, and the killing
of over 1,300, mostly civilians. It has also caused the destruction of
Gaza’s infrastructure, including demolition of hundreds of homes and
attacks on UN schools and on the UNRWA warehouse, which is the source
of basic necessities, such as food, fuel and medicines. According to a
1/15/09 UN press release: “One in every 250 people in Gaza is either
now dead or significantly injured . . . This number is comparable to
33,000 people in New York City or 1.2 million people in the United
States.”

http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/47d4e277b48d9d3685256ddc00612265/b974aca8e8fe201d85257540004ffedc!OpenDocument

Contrast this with the Hamas rocket attacks, which during the same
period killed 3 Israelis civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers.

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1232171510978&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

Furthermore, we are greatly distressed by the continuing decoupling of
these recent hostilities from their historic context, which
encourages, inter alia, the following obstacles to peace:

• Demonization of Palestinians as inherently anti-Semitic,
hateful terrorists;

• Delegitimization of lawful resistance by Palestinians to
Israeli violations of their human and legal rights;

• Propounding the myth of balance between the two peoples despite
the patently disproportionate military and political power between
them: an occupying power, Israel — nuclear-armed with the fourth
largest military in the world, backed by a superpower — and
Palestinians, an effectively disarmed, impoverished and occupied
people;

• Jettisoning of international law in favor of bilateral
negotiations between two actors of such grossly unequal power, a
course begun with the Madrid /Oslo process;

• Distortions of human security needs of Israelis in favor of
Israeli state security and regional domination;

• Conflation of criticism of Israeli policies with anti-Semitism,
which promotes regressive elements on both sides for political gain,
trivializes the historic prejudice against Jews, and inhibits the
expression of sympathy Palestinians do have for Jewish suffering,
especially the Nazi holocaust.

As a consequence we call for a redirection of international attention
to the root causes of past and ongoing hostilities between Israelis
and Palestinians, i.e., Palestinian dispossession and ethnic cleansing
by Israel since 1948, and the establishment of an apartheid-like
system in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) that
discriminates against non-Jews.*

THEREFORE:

Recalling the historic examples of apartheid South Africa and Nazi
Germany that a just, enduring peace, and reconciliation between
Palestinians and Israelis depend on acknowledgement of wrongdoing and
restitution and;

Recalling that Europeans, not Palestinians, were responsible for the
Nazi holocaust; we believe that individual European Green Parties,
especially those with elected representatives in their governments,
and in the EU parliament in their capacity to influence the European
Union’s relation to Israel, have a special duty to ensure that
Palestinians no longer bear the blame for historic European
transgressions against Jews; and

Recalling that the Green Party of the United States has a particular
obligation in relation to this conflict as the US government is
Israel’s closest ally:

• That Israel receives more than $5 billion annually in military
and financial aid; that as current hostilities in Gaza illustrate,
Israel’s use of this military aid often violates American laws in that
the Arms Export Control Act stipulates that US-supplied weapons be
used only for “legitimate self-defense” and that the US Foreign
Assistance Act prohibits military assistance to any country “which
engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally
recognized human rights” and that the Proxmire Amendment bans military
assistance to any government that refuses to sign the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspection of its nuclear
facilities, as Israel refuses to do;

• That the United States government, including both its major
parties, has not been an impartial peace broker in this conflict but
continues to provide political cover and protection to Israel
internationally, particularly at the United Nations, where it has
vetoed scores of Security Council Resolutions opposing Israel’s
violations of Palestinian human rights and international law, thereby
undermining the central purpose of the UN Charter to maintain
international peace and security;

• That US support for Israeli violations against the Palestinian
people is a main source of antipathy to the US and the West among the
world’s formerly colonized peoples who identify with Palestinians;
that this US support not only decreases US/Western national security,
but also contributes to Middle East and international instability; and

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41982
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/14/world/14clash.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65b122b6-e8c0-11dd-a4d0-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Recognizing that this conflict continues to have a devastating
ecological impact on Israel/Palestine, especially water sources,
thereby decreasing security for the whole region; and



Recognizing that despite 61 years of continuous diplomatic attempts by
the international community, it has failed to bring about Israel’s
compliance with international law or respect for basic Palestinian
human rights; and



Recognizing that, despite abundant condemnation of Israel’s policies
by the UN, International Court of Justice, and all relevant
international conventions, the international community of nations has
failed to stop violations by Israel of Palestinian human rights in
Israel and the OPT, while Israeli crimes continue with impunity, as
the recent assault on Gaza illustrates; and

Recalling that ending institutionalized racism (apartheid) in South
Africa demanded an unusual, cooperative action by the entire
international community in the form of a boycott, divestment, and
sanctions (BDS) campaign against apartheid South Africa, and that BDS
can become the most effective nonviolent means for achieving justice
and genuine peace between Palestinians and Israelis, and in the
region, through concerted international pressure as applied to
apartheid South Africa; and

Recognizing that Palestinian resistance to ongoing dispossession has
mainly been nonviolent, including its most basic form — remaining in
their homes, on their land; and that while Palestinian armed
resistance is legitimate under international law when directed at
non-civilian targets, we believe that only nonviolent resistance will
maintain the humanity of Palestinian society, elicit the greatest
solidarity from others, and maximize the chance for future
reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians; and

Recognizing, however, that our appeal to Palestinians to continue to
resist nonviolently in the face of ongoing existential threats from
Israel is hypocritical unless accompanied by substantial acts of
international support; and

Recalling that in 2005, Palestinian Civil Society appealed to the
international community to support a BDS campaign against Israel; and

Recalling that in response, at least two Green Parties have passed
resolutions supporting this BDS campaign:

Green Party of the United States in 2005
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2005_11_28.shtml

Green Party of England and Wales in 2008 
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=1733;

We, international Green parties:

Call publicly for the implementation of boycott and divestment
initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in
the apartheid era; and

Agree to pressure our respective governments to impose embargoes and
sanctions against Israel; and

Support maintaining these nonviolent punitive measures until Israel
meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable
right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of
international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Palestinian lands
and dismantling the Wall in the West Bank;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian
refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN
resolution 194.