Peace for Israel and Palestine must be on fair and equal terms, says Green leader

Commenting on the Israeli prime minister's announcement that he would be prepared to recognise a Palestinian state alongside Israel, Green Party leader Caroline Lucas MEP said today:

"Anything that brings Israelis and Palestinians closer to a permanent peaceful settlement must be applauded.

"However, I can understand why Palestinians would be very unhappy with Mr Netanyahu's preconditions. For a new state to have no control of its borders or its airspace would simply not be fair. To recognise a state on condition that it has no armed forces and is not allowed to make defensive military alliances is not really recognising its sovereignty."

Dr Lucas added: "The Green Party obviously recognises Israel's need for security. We unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism against Israelis. We vehemently oppose anti-semitism."

"And by exactly the same reasoning, we cannot support the idea that a government with a track record of illegal aggression and illegal occupation should be allowed to impose conditions like these on its neighbour."

She added: "We note that Benjamin Netanyahu continues to support the building of homes and infrastructure in territories that do not belong to Israel. We must therefore question his sincerity."

"A peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians must be built on the basis of mutual respect and equality between nations. You can't have a normal, respectful relationship between two states where one of them insists on the right to be able to dominate the other, and to recognise its existence only with unreasonable conditions attached."

Green MEP Calls For Urgent Political Solution To Conflict On Return From Euro-Parliament Visit To Gaza

Caroline Lucas MEP demands recognition for Palestinian unity government and an end to the blockade, as illegal Israeli settlement building continues.

Following a four-day visit to Gaza and the West Bank with a European Parliament delegation, Green Party MEP for the South East Caroline Lucas has warned that the Middle East peace process will fail unless political leaders recognise a Palestinian unity government – and insist on an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza.

Speaking about her trip to the region, Dr Lucas, who is also Green Party Leader, said: "The UK's Secretary of State for International Development has today said it's crucial that Palestinians come together for reconciliation –and I would certainly agree with him. Yet the EU's refusal to recognise the previous unity government because it contained elements from Hamas – though democratically elected – was instrumental in dividing Palestinians and exacerbating tensions.

"If the Palestinians can put together a government of genuine unity, based on tolerance, pluralism, and a commitment to previous peace process agreements that include the recognition of Israel, then it is the responsibility of the international community to accept it – regardless of
whether or not it contains members of Hamas.

"And indeed, a process of dialogue and reconciliation between the different Palestinian factions is already emerging. The political leaders gathering in Sharm-el-Sheikh this week for a conference on aid and the reconstruction of Gaza must recognise the need to support this political process and work towards bringing the West Bank and Gaza under unity control. More aid may provide short-term relief for the humanitarian crisis, but it is merely a sticking plaster on what is essentially a political struggle.

"There are already tonnes of aid piled up at the border into Gaza, but the continuing Israeli siege is preventing it from reaching the people who need it most. When I met with UN officials in Gaza this week, I was told that around 750 trucks a day are needed to maintain essential supplies.
Currently, Gazans are lucky to see around 30.

"So, the international community must demand an urgent lifting of the siege on Gaza, and ensure the free movement of people, as well as goods, for the whole of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – in other words, the first steps towards ending the occupation, so that the Palestinian people can be allowed to start rebuilding their economies and communities.

Dr Lucas concluded: "Unfortunately, the main threat now to a two-state solution is the Israeli authorities' continuing aggressive expansion of the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the further extension of the apartheid wall. Israel must be brought to account for this continued flouting of its commitments under both the Oslo Accords and recent peace
agreements."

Super Nanny to Solve Problems in Gaza

I was visiting one of Brentwood's more sophisticated Turkish dining retrieval establishments last night waiting for my grilled delicacy to be prepared when I happened across a publication called the Sun. Now I used to be a bit of a paper snob and for a while would have only used the Sun for one thing alone (imagination suggested at this point). Recently, however I have started to think that news from any view is valid particularly when it is regarded by huge numbers as the Sun is.

I was in good spirits until I happened across a two page spread about the situation in Gaza with a photograph of a father crying over the bodies of his two young sons and a cousin, all of whom looked no older than 5 years old. It was one of the most upsetting pictures I have ever seen in my life. Three children lay dead on the ground. They looked like they were sleeping...but they were dead. They were innocent. They would've had no interest in religious extremism or politics but that's what killed them. Just to make things clear, I think that both sides of the conflict are as evil as the other.

I have grown up in an area where jews and muslims live side by side in peace, go to school together and do business together. I don't think there are too many marriages between the two but then that cannot be expected from hundreds of years of ingrained prejudice and racism against each other. Nevertheless, they don't kill each other. In the middle east however, they wage war like fighting children who when confronted and questioned about their actions, argue with a "you started it!"..."no, you started it!" mentality which frustrates any attempt to get them to the negotiating table.

The year 2009 like so many others has begun with death in large numbers, not as a result of terrorism but as a consequence of equal evil and malevolence and it is time that the world did something positive instead of the passive approach that has been taken to date to stop this mischief once and for all. If both sides want to kill children and innocent people and then blame the other side like a child would then it is time for an adult response.

Israel needs to be sent to the "naughty corner" and made to stay there until it learns that it cannot go on indiscriminately killing and humiliating its neighbours. Super Nanny tactics are needed to tackle this most extreme childish form of national if not racial ethos.

The Palestinians need to be educated and safeguarded from the likes of Hamas, but it cannot and must not be a job for Israel or the US to do. Their neighbours, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia must be made to take responsibility for "their own" and if they fail then they should be sanctioned as well. Believe me, if you hit the Saudis or any of the other fuel rich states in the middle east in the pocket every time there is a terrorist attack in Israel or the rest of the world, then terrorist acts emanating from that region would soon come to an end.

One way or another the violence needs to end and Jews and Muslims need to be held to account for their support of the political administrations they both choose to stand behind every time the killing starts.