Greens Message To Israeli Delegation: Peace To The West Bank

Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson Keith Locke today called on a Parliamentary delegation from Israel to take the road of peace and urge their government to stop military attacks in the West Bank and Gaza.

An Israeli Parliamentary delegation today visited the New Zealand Parliament. Mr Locke met the delegation at the Speaker's Gallery and gave them an open letter asking for implementations of UN resolutions which called for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories on the West Bank and Gaza.

"Peace cannot be advanced by helicopter gunships firing on the offices of the Palestine Authority, or Israeli troops invading Palestinian-run towns," said Mr Locke.

"We are outraged that Israel continues to use the tactic of political assassination, which is specifically forbidden by all international agreements covering the rules of war," he said.

Yesterday, an Israeli rocket killed a senior Palestinian leader Abu Ali Mustafa, a founder of the PLO.

"There have also been reports of further bulldozing of the homes of Palestinians in the occupied territories. That is outrageous and totally uncivilised behaviour and contrary to all international protocols that prohibit civilians and their property being military targets," he said.

Mr Locke said the first steps for bringing peace to the Middle East would be an implementation of the Mitchell Commission's proposals for an immediate cease fire, a freeze on Israeli settlement construction, and the resumption of joint security cooperation and negotiations to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict.

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