1 November 2007

We write as the current elected co-chairs (and, therefore, the official spokespeople of the Green-Rainbow Party) to express our strong objection to the misrepresentation and defamation of Grace Ross, a member of our party and a candidate for city council of Worcester. Grace and our party both face baseless charges of anti-Semitism, including the astounding and groundless accusations that our party calls for the destruction of Israel and the expulsion of Israelis from the Middle East.

The Green-Rainbow Party does not support calls for the expulsion of Israelis any more than we support calls for the expulsion of Palestinians, and our platform does not call for the destruction of Israel. Such calls -- no matter who might espouse them -- are contrary to several of the 10 key values that do make up our platform, including non-violence, social justice, and respect for diversity.

What we do call for is an end to the killing on all sides, including an end to the collective punishment of Palestinians through military and other means by the Israeli government and an end to the collective punishment of Israelis through rocket attacks and suicide bombings by militant opposition groups. What we do call for is an end to the taking of Palestinian land and water in the West Bank, an end to the blockade of Gaza, and an end to all attempts to deny both Palestinians and Israelis the right to self-determination and safety.

The only true and lasting solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will be one that derives from a process in which all the peoples of the region democratically decide their future and agree upon a solution that is acceptable to all. We share the hope that Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressed last week for healing and reconciliation that can come only "when everyone who claims to be wholly innocent relinquishes that illusion, when everyone who places absolute blame on another renounces that lie, and when differing stories are told at last as one shared story of human aspiration."

Nathanael Fortune M.K. Merelice Co-Chairs, Green-Rainbow Party