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| Socialist
Party Statements: Statement on the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict |
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Statement on the Israeli-Palestinian
Conflict
by the SPUSA International Commission
The United States bears direct responsibility for the Israeli
aggression in the Occupied Territories. It was U.S. military and
economic aid that made Israel into one of the most powerful military
states in the world. The United States should terminate the five
billion dollars a year it gives the Israeli government. At the same
time, the United States should end military aid to all of the Middle
Eastern countries. It should also stop providing Israel and the Middle
Eastern countries with military equipment and logistical assistance.
The Socialist Party also supports legislation that would ban investment
in the Israeli economy until Israel withdraws from the Occupied
Territories. The United States should also end its "special
relationship" with Israel.
The cycle of violence in the Middle East must come to an end. Israeli
state terrorism directed at the Palestinian population, that is the
arbitrary seizure of land, the destruction of homes, the jailing of
thousands of Palestinians without charging them with a specific crime
and the use of torture on those held, is a major cause of the
bitterness and hatred that has enveloped the region. On the other hand,
the exploding of bombs in Israeli restaurants is pointless,
counter-productive and immoral. The Socialist Party believes that the
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be reached
through violence, and it condemns acts of violence directed at
civilians no matter who perpetrates them. We support those in Israel
and in the Occupied Territories who are working toward a peaceful and
equitable solution to the current impasse.
The continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is
the fundamental cause of the continuing violence. U.S. pressure on
Palestinian authorities to accept a partial withdrawal by Israeli
forces must end.
Negotiations stemming from the recent summit that seek to formulate a
compromise' solution based on the continued Israeli occupation of
sections of the West Bank are bound to fail. The Socialist Party calls
upon the Israeli government to immediately withdraw its military forces
from all of the Occupied Territories, and to recognize the authority of
a Palestinian state within these boundaries. The five billion dollars
in U.S. aid currently going to Israel should be redirected to the
education, health care and housing of the Palestinian people.
Once Israeli troops have withdrawn from the Occupied Territories, the
Arab countries will fully recognize Israel and negotiations will begin
on a fair process by which to return the millions of Palestinian
refugees to the area. This will require the Israelis to accept some of
the refugees into Israel, with others returning to the West Bank and
Gaza. The negotiations will have to work out a means by which East
Jerusalem can be returned to Arab control, while access to Jerusalem's
religious sites is fully guaranteed to Jews, Christians and everyone
else.
Once Israel has totally withdrawn from the Occupied Territories the two
sides can begin to develop a framework that can make it possible for
Jews and Arabs to live in peace within a setting that guarantees equal
rights for everyone, whatever their religion or ethnicity.
The Socialist Party will work with popular forces throughout the Middle
East who are working to build democratic secular societies. This holds
for Israel, a Jewish theocratic state that persists in discriminating
against its Arab citizens, and for the Arab countries, most of which
are brutal dictatorships, and many of which are Islamic theocracies.
Our ultimate goal remains a Middle Eastern federation of democratic
socialist societies. One component of such a federation would be a
united, secular and democratic socialist Palestine.
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