THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release:

Wednesday, December 12, 2001

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.



MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States

http://gp-us.org



END