THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES


MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release:
Wednesday, August 14, 2002


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



ISRAELI FORCES ARE TARGETING NONVIOLENT
PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI, AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE
WORKERS


Greens demand an end to brutality against
nonviolent activists in the occupied territories
and a reversal of Bush's support for the Sharon
agenda



WASHINGTON, DC -- Members of the Green Party of
the United States have expressed concern that the
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has targeted
activists from around the world who are working
for peace in Israel and the Palestinian
territories, as well as Palestinian and Israeli
peace activists.


"Clearly, nonviolent protest and our solidarity
is the only way that the occupation will end,"
said Justine McCabe, co-chair of the Connecticut
Greens and member of the Green Party's
International Committee. McCabe has assisted
Palestinian and international relief workers in
Bethlehem and Ramalah.


"Sadly, the IDF's violent response today to these
courageous internationals is what peacefully
resisting Palestinians have known on a steady
basis for over 35 years," McCabe added.
"Although they endure the same wretched
conditions as Palestinians while in the Occupied
Territories, many of the internationals can go
home, back to safety to shore up for the next
round. Palestinians living under occupation have
no safe place. They risk their lives every day
just to remain in their homes, on their own
land."


According to eyewitness reports on August 7,
Israeli police and soldiers used percussion
grenades, tear gas, and helicopters to quash a
nonviolent demonstration at the Huwara checkpoint
near Nablus by Palestinian, American, French, and
Irish members of the International Solidarity
Movement, including New York members of Jews
Against the Occupation.


McCabe noted that "this isn't the first time the
IDF has used U.S. guns to fire on U.S. citizens."


Greens have criticized the bipartisan support of
the U.S. Congress and the White House for
Israel's continued illegal occupation of
Palestinian territories, which has led to the
escalating slaughter of innocent people on both
sides, invasion and assassination, and the
bulldozing of Palestinian homes to make way for
Israeli settlements.


"The media show us pictures and footage of the
terrible, self-defeating murder of innocent
Israelis by Palestinian suicide bombers," said
Holly Hart, Green candidate for Lieutenant
Governor of Iowa and member of People for Justice
in Palestine. "But few Americans are aware of
the heroic efforts by many Palestinians and
Israelis to resolve the conflict through
nonviolent negotiation and resistance to Israel's
sustained onslaught."


Columnist Robert Novak, writing in TownHall.com
on June 17, revealed Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's candid comments about his government's
goals in a closed-door meeting with U.S. Senators
during Sharon's visit in June: "Sharon pointed
to no Israeli-Palestinian deal for at least 10
years" and "committ[ed] himself to a hundred-year
war against Arabs."


Sharon startled the Senators by calling for
increased immigration to Israel and reminding
them that "the ancient boundaries of the 'Land of
Israel' [Judaea and Samaria, including the West
Bank] are guaranteed to the Jewish people by Holy
Scripture."


"The only way we'll see Israel reverse its
illegal treatment of Palestinians and withdraw
from the occupied territories is through massive
pressure from the U.S., including a threat to end
aid to Israel," said Charles Pillsbury, Green
candidate for Connecticut's 3rd Congressional
District. "Unfortunately, there is nearly
unqualified bipartisan support for the Sharon
agenda, except for a very few courageous
Congressmembers such as Rep. Cynthia McKinney
(D.-Ga.), who has been targeted for defeat in her
bid for reelection this year for her views.
Sharon is not only supported by Jewish pro-Israel
lobbies but by even more powerful conservative
pro-Israel Christian fundamentalists -- the very
people who are dictating Bush policy."


The Green Party of the United States has joined
human rights groups, the European Federation of
Green Parties, the Palestinian Authority, the
U.N. Commission on Human Rights, and U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan in repeated calls
for an international protection force for all
civilians in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.



MORE INFORMATION


The Green Party of the United States
 http://www.greenpartyus.org
National office: 1314 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-296-7755, 866-41GREEN


"Sharon & the Senators", by Robert Novak. June
17, 2002 in TownHall.com.
 http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20020617.shtml


Index of Green Party candidates in 2002
 http://www.greens.org/elections


The 2002 Campaign Pledge: A Green Commitment to
America
Signed by Green Congressional candidates
 http://www.gpus.org/candidate_pledge.html


Organizations working for peace in the Middle
East:
International Solidarity Movement
 http://www.palsolidarity.org
Gush Shalom  http://www.gush-shalom.org
B'tselem (The Israeli Information Center for
Human Rights in the Occupied Territories)
 http://www.btselem.org
Palestine Right to Return Coalition
 http://www.al-awda.org
Foundation for Middle East Peace
 http://www.fmep.org
Not in My Name  http://www.nimn.org
LAW: The Palestinian Society for the Protection
of Human Rights and the Environment
 http://www.lawsociety.org
Rabbis for Human Rights
 http://www.rhr.israel.net
Christian Peacemaker Teams
 http://www.prairienet.org/cpt
Paletinian Centre for Rapprochement between
People  http://www.rapprochement.org
Jews Against the Occupation
 http://www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org



- END -