United States Greens call on Israel to end "terrorising"

Contacts:
Nancy Allen, Media Coordinator, 207-326-4576,
nallen@acadia.net
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
scottmclarty@yahoo.com

GREENS DEMAND THAT ISRAEL CEASE ITS HYPOCRITICAL
'WAR ON TERRORISM' AGAINST PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Activists in the Green Party
of the United States are asking the U.S. to hold
the government of Israel accountable for the
latest wave of bloodshed, and insist that Israel
seek negotiation instead of the "War on
Terrorism" against the Palestinian people that
Israel's own policy of assassination recently
ignited. Greens condemn the current escalation
of violence committed by both sides and call for
an international peace force to enforce a
ceasefire, and support the demand by United
Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson
that Israel stop bombing the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, assaults which Ms. Robinson said are
"terrorising and terrifying the civilian
population".

"Israel's continued occupation -- with heavy
military supervision and imposed economic
deprivation -- of the Palestinian territories
continues in violation of international law and
in the face of the U.N.'s condemnation," said
Anita Rios, an Ohio Green organizer and member of
the party's national steering committee.

"Greens condemn the suicide bombings that have
killed Israeli citizens, and see such tactics as
counterproductive in the movement to liberate
Palestinians. But the Israeli government
instigated the current wave of violence, with the
assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud,
at a time when Ariel Sharon demanded a week's
cessation of violence by Palestinians before
negotiations would begin."

"Assassinations are not 'self-defense' but an
illegal attack on civilians," added Ben Manski,
also a steering committee member of the Green
Party of the United States, and a Jewish American
who grew up in Jerusalem and whose family left
Israel at the time of the invasion of Lebanon.

"The Sharon government seems determined to
destroy any chance of ending Israel's half
century oppression of Palestinians, and has
declared the Palestinian Authority under Yasser
Arafat to be the enemy in a hypocritically
declared 'war on terrorism' against an already
subjugated people. Both Israeli and Palestinian
civilians will continue to suffer -- especially
Palestinians, who have already suffered loss of
their human rights, homes, livelihoods, and the
lives of children."

Bulent Ecevit, the Prime Minister of Turkey,
Israel's closest ally in the Middle East,
recently revealed that Sharon has told him Israel
wants to "be rid of" Arafat. Israel and the U.S.
both boycotted the Fourth Geneva Convention in
Switzerland on December 4 and 5, at which Israel
was reprimanded by 114 states, including Britain
and other European Union nations, for
indiscriminate and disproportionate violence
against Palestinian civilians and breaches of the
Geneva Conventions.

"We are ashamed of the silence of the U.S. about
Sharon's responsibility, as the leader of a
wealthy and heavily armed state, for lighting the
fuse that set off the recent attacks," said Annie
Goeke, a Pennsylvania Green activist and chair of
the party's International Committee.
"Palestinian civilians are being murdered with
American weapons and with the Bush
Administration's approval."

The Green Party of the United States continues to
demand that Israel -- and the United States, the
power behind Israel -- adhere to international
law and the decisions of the U.N., that it begin
negotiations and the process of granting
self-determination to the Palestinian people, and
that it respect the right of exiled Palestinians
to return home.

Greens are also concerned that Israel's new 'war'
and the Bush Administration's threat to expand
the military assaults against Afghanistan to
other Muslim nations, especially Iraq and
Somalia, will destroy the fragile alliance with
some Muslim nations and lead to a long and bloody
war across the Middle East and central Asia -- as
well as violent attacks against civilians in the
U.S. and our allies.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)