[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Greens, pressing Palestinian rights, urge boycott of Israel

[Jim Stauffer]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, November 28, 2005

GREENS, CALLING FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS, URGE
DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Green Party of the United
States has endorsed a statement calling for a
comprehensive strategy of boycott and divestment that
would pressure the government of Israel to guarantee
human rights for Palestinians.

The resolution, introduced by the Wisconsin Green
Party and passed in the Green Party's National
Committee, seeks reversal of Israel's current
policies.  The text is appended below.

"Israel's treatment of Palestinians -- those who are
Israeli citizens as well as those in the territories
-- is comparable in many ways to South African
apartheid, and has resulted in a cycle of violence and
lack of security for both Israelis and Palestinians,"
said Mohammed Abed, a member of the Wisconsin Green
Party.  "A stable and just resolution of the conflict
requires the full realization of the human rights of
Palestinians and Israelis."

Greens allege that the 'peace process' will ensure
neither peace nor human rights, and have called the
Gaza Disengagement Plan a smokescreen to buy time and
accumulate political capital for the Sharon government
while it pursues a plan to force Palestinians into
disconnected reservations on less than half the West
Bank.

The Green Party is already on record as supporting the
right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes
and to receive compensation for their losses;
immediate Israeli withdrawal from all lands acquired
since 1967, including the West Bank, Gaza, and East
Jerusalem (see
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article329199.ece>);
maintenance of Jerusalem as a shared city open to
people of all faiths; suspension of U.S. military and
foreign aid to Israel; complete dismantling of the
Israeli separation wall; and serious consideration of
a single secular, democratic state as the national
home of both Israelis and Palestinians.  Greens have
affirmed the right of self-determination for both
Palestinians and Israelis.

"The Green Party is on the side of the many Israeli
and Palestinian organizations working together to
achieve a just resolution through nonviolent means,"
said Ruth Weill, co-chair of the Wisconsin Green
Party.  "As proven in South Africa in the 1980s,
divestment and boycott are an effective means to
achieve justice for the oppressed."

Greens note that direct U.S. aid to Israel has been
conservatively estimated at nearly $105 billion since
1949, which does not include recently proposed
assistance such as the $1.2 billion package for
developing the Negev and Galilee.

"American taxpayers' money is subsidizing Israel's
treatment of its Palestinian citizens and of
Palestinians in the occupied territories," said Peter
LaVenia, chair of the Albany, NewYork Greens.


RESOLUTION
Adopted by the Green Party of the United States,
November 21, 2005

1. The Green Party of the United States (GPUS)
publicly calls for divestment from and boycott of the
State of Israel until such time as the full individual
and collective rights of the Palestinian people are
realized. 

To maximize the effect of the Green Party's support
for divestment and boycott of Israel:

2. The party calls on all civil society institutions
and organizations around the world to implement a
comprehensive divestment and boycott program. Further,
the party calls on all governments to support this
program and to implement state level boycotts.

3. The party urges the Campus Greens network to work
in cooperation with other campus organizations to
achieve institutional participation in this effort.

4. The GPUS National Committee directs the Green Peace
Action Committee (GPAX) to encourage the larger
anti-war movement to promote the divestment/boycott
effort.

5. The GPUS National Committee directs the
International Committee to work with our sister Green
parties around the world in implementing an
international boycott.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Green Party International Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/

Green Party Peace Action Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/peace/

University of Wisconsin Divest from Israel Campaign
http://alawda.rso.wisc.edu/links.htm


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