http://frontpagemag.com/2012/06/20/north-carolina-democrats-mobilize-against-israel/print/
Apparently the North Carolina Democratic Party hasn’t gotten the endlessly repeated “memo” regarding the Obama administration’s “unwavering support” for the state of Israel. During last weekend’s party convention, a resolution that would criticize Israel for its “illegal occupation of Palestine” was seriously considered before being tabled. Not killed — tabled. It has been referred to the state’s executive committee for further consideration at a later date.
Resolution number 26, titled “Bring a Just Peace to the Middle East: Israel and Palestine,” is a screed of leftist-inspired grievances, attacking the United States for providing Israel with “$3 billion annually in military aid.” According to North Carolina Democrats, such funds pay for “the Israeli occupation, disenfranchisement and impoverishment of significant numbers of the Palestinian population,” and the facilitation of “Israel’s overwhelming military might and its role as the only nuclear power.” That military might ostensibly threatens the “stability in a region witnessing increased demands for democracy and an end to autocratic rule.” The funding is also used by Israel to “continue … demolition of Palestinian homes, expansion of existing illegal settlements built on expropriated Palestinian land, and a continued blockade of essential goods from Gaza, causing a U.N. documented humanitarian crisis.”
Furthermore, U.S. aid “has caused increased violence and insecurity to Israelis and Palestinians and helps subvert any prospect for peace,” while “Israel’s human rights violations and its illegal settlements violate International and U.S. law, including the U.S. Arms Export Control Act of 1976,” all of which contributes to the “escalating tension between Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab world in the Middle East.” Such Israeli-instigated tension “threatens the peace and stability of the region and the world.”
Thus, the NC Democratic Party expects to hold its elected officials accountable “for helping end our government’s role in continuing the Israeli Palestinian tragedy by making the human rights of both peoples central to U.S. foreign policy by ending Israel’s illegal occupation, by advocating for a viable Palestinian state, and membership of that state in the United Nations.”
North Carolina Democrats then urged their congressional representatives to support several initiatives (emphasis added): “Bring all parties, including Hamas, to the table to negotiate and end to the Israeli Occupation and a secure peace based on the 1967 borders; An immediate end to settlement expansion and removal of existing settlement in the West Bank and Jerusalem; An end to Palestinian house demolitions; A halt to further construction of the wall; An end to the Gaza blockade; The establishment of the nuclear free zone in the Middle East; Redirecting U.S. Military aid to Israel to promote social and economic development for peace in both Israel and Palestine.”