Israel was born of and built upon the dispossession, disenfranchisement, and disempowerment of those who lived peacefully with Jews and Christians alike for centuries under the rule of various imperial powers. Not until the formation of the State of Israel did we begin to witness the systematic injustice in this region perpetrated by one group against another. Now one group disproportionally controls the best arable land, water resources, reliable access to electricity, control of imported construction, medical, commercial supplies, and has left the other group without basic rights and freedom, yet have the audacity to call themselves a democracy.
There were approximately 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza before the current siege and over 1,000 have been slaughtered in the last few weeks. A Palestinian child has died every hour during this recent onslaught. Unlike other war zones, the refugees fleeing the brutality have nowhere to go since they are trapped and the Palestinians in the West Bank, if they are able to leave, have no right of return. When the IDF shells and militarily invades occupied Palestinian areas, it is not conflict between two independent actors. It is disproportionate use of deadly force upon a civilian population and there can be no doubt this should be considered a war crime and a humanitarian catastrophe.
No people can accept being imprisoned, besieged by land, by air, by sea, and deprived of the most basic requirements of a decent life: clean water, building materials, freedom of movement and the pursuit of happiness. For seven years the inhabitants of Gaza have been held under a brutal and lethal siege, shelled and bombed indiscriminately, homes, hospitals, and schools obliterated, whole neighborhoods annihilated and families tragically cut down. How ironic that these atrocities can be committed by a people who share a strong collective consciousness of confinement in European ghettos and subjection to systematic ethnic cleansing.
In response to latest events current Lucas County Green Party Secretary Douglas Jambard-Sweet had this to say:
“Have we no longer a soul with which to feel for this suffering? Have we no righteous indignation at our own country, which finances this slaughter and destruction?”
The LCGP denounces the Israeli government for its brutality, war crimes, and program of ethnic cleansing. The LCGP further denounces the U.S. Government for its complicity in these crimes against humanity through its $3 Billion in annual military funding to Israel. The LCGP calls for an immediate end to military hostilities, an end of Israeli occupation of Gaza, the end of settlements in the West Bank, and the lifting of all embargos on occupied territories. The Lucas County Green Party further supports the growing movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction the Israeli government as long as this system of oppression continues.
Lucas County Ohio Green Party 