I support and endorse the policy of the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) which calls for a comprehensive strategy of boycott and divestment that would pressure the government of Israel to guarantee human rights for the Palestinians. Please see the resolution of the Green Party below.*

The nation of Israel has been conducting an illegal military occupation of the West Bank including east Jerusalem and until recently the Gaza Strip since 1967. This is the longest such occupation and, other than the US occupation of Iraq, the only one anywhere in the world today.

This is fundamental to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The rules governing the behavior of an occupying power are laid down in the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), relating to the protection of civilians in time of war, to which Israel is a “high contracting party” (states signatory to the convention). The convention is a cornerstone of international humanitarian law. It sets basic legal standards for the treatment of civilians during armed conflict or under occupation. It bans indiscriminate use of force against civilians, wanton destruction of property, torture, collective punishment, the annexation of occupied territory, and the establishment of settlements or colonies on occupied land. It requires that all high contracting parties ensure that the convention is respected and that those who commit war crimes are brought judicially to account.

Alone among the 189 “high contracting parties”, Israel has throughout its nearly four decade occupation refused to recognize the legal applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied Palestinian territories. Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions constitute war crimes. Israel has also ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, one of the major UN human rights treaties. This treaty, which Israel has solemnly undertaken to uphold, contains several articles, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which cannot be derogated from even "in time of public emergency which threats the life of the nation". A casual reading of the newspapers will confirm that Israel is routinely, even daily, in breach of its international humanitarian and human rights commitments.  
 

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. A stable and just resolution of the conflict requires the full realization of the human rights of Palestinians and Israelis.

The "peace process" will ensure neither peace nor human rights, and the "Gaza Disengagement Plan" is 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.

I support 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, 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. The right of self-determination is critical for both Palestinians and Israelis.

As proven in South Africa in the 1980s, divestment and boycott are an effective means to achieve justice for the oppressed.

U. S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine is the single most critical factor in accounting for terrorist attacks upon the United States. 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 brutal treatment of its Palestinian citizens and of Palestinians in the occupied areas.

*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.