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

GREEN PARTY ENDORSES UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION.   PROPOSES BASIS FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE

The Association of State Green Parties, USA (ASGP) condemns the ongoing violence between Palestinians and Israelis.  The ASGP supports recent UN Security Council Resolution 1322, which deplores Israeli provocation at Haram Al-Sharif and condemns the excessive use of force against Palestinians.  According to ASGP Steering Committee Co-Chair Tom Sevigny, "The Green Party opposes violence by either Israelis or Palestinians.   However, by supporting this UN resolution, we acknowledge the greater responsibility of Israel for the conflict both in this immediate crisis and in Israel's continuing history of non-compliance with international law and UN resolutions. There can be neither justice nor an enduring peace for Palestinians or Israelis as long as international law and human rights are not strictly observed."

In advocating a resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the ASGP reaffirms the Green Party's commitment to non-violence.   According to ASGP Coordinating Committee member Dean Myerson, "We acknowledge that Israel's continued military occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem constitutes a clear violation of Palestinian human rights under international law and numerous UN resolutions.  However, we urge Palestinians--especially in response to provocations like those by Ariel Sharon and Israeli settlers--to refrain from violence and to protest their injustice by mass non-violent civil disobedience and non-cooperation, as well as by empowering leaders who support such non-violent acts of liberation.   In doing so, Palestinians set a moral example and higher standard than their occupiers, which will engender the respect and unequivocal support of the international community."  

Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestinian land embodies a fundamental challenge to international peace in this era.  As ASGP International Committee member Justine McCabe said,  "Will the world that witnessed the last gasps of colonialism, the horror of genocides and atomic bombs, begin the new millennium by affirming international law which prohibits the acquisition of territory by force?  Or will it step back into 19th century consciousness where 'might made right'?  It's important to remember that the international interdiction against acquiring territory by force applies regardless of how a conflict started or was conducted.  It also stipulates that military occupation is always  temporary and never becomes legal through force or duration."  These universal principles concerning belligerent occupation are also recognized in the UN Charter and are reflected in UN Security Council Resolutions 237 and 242 which call for Israeli withdrawal from land seized in 1967 as the basis for a just peace.  The ASGP also calls attention to the rights of Palestinians to return to their homes, to reclaim their property and to be compensated for their losses, rights which are unconditional and guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN General Assembly Resolutions 194, reaffirmed every year since 1948.

The ASGP acknowledges the intrinsic limitations of the Oslo peace process as currently constituted. Given irrefutable guarantees in international law for Israeli and Palestinian human rights, ASGP's Tom Sevigny stated,  "It's significant that the very mechanism for achieving peace, the Oslo Process, has ignored international law, which is the only equitable basis for resolving ethnic conflict.  Instead, Oslo has been subject to inherent biases that are antithetical to international law.  It privileges Israeli goals and needs at the expense of inalienable Palestinian rights to self-determination, political and economic freedom and return of refugees." 

Therefore, the Association of State Green Parties, USA calls on the US Government to commit to the following propositions, and to stop all further aid to Israel until it also adheres to them: 

• Peace negotiations must be re-established based on equality of the two parties before international law.  Thus, adherence to international law and the inalienability of the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians must be the foundation for continuing peace negotiations.

• Jerusalem must be a shared city, open to all, without exclusive claims to national sovereignty or religion.  A solution for Jerusalem's status must be negotiated that respects the human rights of both Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the rights of the three religious communities for whom Jerusalem is sacred.   Until such time, the US embassy should not be moved to Jerusalem. 

• Israel must withdraw from all lands acquired since 1967, including East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.

• Palestinian refugees' inalienable rights to return to their homes and to receive material compensation for their losses must be honored. 

The Association of State Green Parties
PO Box 18452, Washington, DC 20036
(202) 232-0335

search: mdest, pce, fpol

Home | Press