Carne Ross explains the Greens' position, including support for a ban on arms sales to Israel

The Green Party’s position on the Gaza war is different from that of other parties. It is based on international law, the laws of war and the need for the protection of civilians.

On 7 October, we condemned Hamas’s attacks and taking of hostages and we have demanded their release – unconditionally – ever since. We are also deeply concerned by and condemn the antisemitism and Islamophobia the violence has triggered.

Very soon after Israel’s assault on Gaza began, we called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. This was based on two beliefs. The first is that we foresaw the mass killing of civilians, as had happened in previous Israeli incursions into the Gaza Strip, and the view that there is no military solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, only a political solution. Both of these beliefs have sadly been borne out. At least forty thousand civilians are dead. And Hamas has not been defeated and will not be by Israel’s attacks. It would be many months, and tens of thousands of deaths, before the government and other parties, including Labour, called for a ceasefire.

As the war continued, we witnessed war crimes committed by Israel, including the disproportionate killing of civilians and the collective punishment of the Palestinian people by the denial of food, water, fuel and other humanitarian necessities. We called out those war crimes, and now the prosecutor of the ICC has sought the arrest of Israeli leaders, as well as Hamas leaders, for those crimes, a demand we support.  Other parties sought to excuse those crimes. Most infamously, Kier Starmer said it was acceptable for Israel to deny the Palestinians food and water.

We supported the South African case at the ICJ alleging that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. We await decision on that case, but believe there is significant evidence pointing to that conclusion. I note that Aryeh Neier, the founder of Human Rights Watch and a Holocaust survivor, has concluded that Israel has indeed committed genocide through its denial of humanitarian supplies.

The UK has continued to supply arms to Israel throughout this conflict, as well as providing undisclosed intelligence and other military assistance. This is a disgrace when Israel is clearly committing war crimes.  We have called for the Metropolitan Police to investigate government ministers for complicity in those war crimes by continuing to approve military supplies. We will hold future government ministers to the same standard.

This horrific slaughter must end. We have continued to demand an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire and the release of hostages. For the longer run, we believe that the UK should immediately recognise Palestine as a state. We believe in a political solution to the Israel/Palestine issue that must involve the end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, as has long been required by UN Security Council resolutions. Israelis and Palestinians have the right to live in security and with their human rights fully protected. Any lasting political solution must meet this minimum condition. The Palestinians meanwhile must be given time and space to develop their own political voice.

We do not want a resumption of the failed ‘peace process’ where Israel is permitted endlessly to delay a solution, in a process arbitrated by the US, which has repeatedly taken Israel’s side, including in the current conflict. Israel’s government is extremist, including representatives of illegal settlers. Only significant pressure will force Israel at last to leave the occupied territories. This pressure cannot merely be ‘diplomatic’ – ie. words – and it may have to involve sanctions. This is why we support the BDS movement.

It is the Green Party’s fundamental principles – our commitment to international law, human rights and the protection of civilians – that have formed our reaction to the appalling killing that we have witnessed in Gaza. Those principles apply to all our foreign policy positions. It is a worrying sign that both the current government, but also Labour, seem to have abandoned those principles, undermining the claims of both that they stand for a ‘rules-based order’. Clearly, it is only the Green Party that genuinely believes in the application of those basic principles. Above all, the killing of innocents must stop.

Carne Ross is Global Solidarity spokesperson for the Green Party of England and Wales

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