The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is backing a congressional resolution urging Mahmoud Abbas to renounce his Fatah Party’s alleged charter.
The nonbinding resolution, introduced last month in the House of Representatives by Reps. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the minority whip, “urges Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also Chairman of his Fatah party, to officially abrogate the 10 articles in the Fatah Constitution that call for Israel’s destruction and terrorism against Israel, oppose any political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and label Zionism as racism; and condemns the continuing existence of these articles as part of the Fatah Constitution.”
AIPAC’s backing for the resolution, confirmed by a spokesperson at the organization, comes as the lobby also is endorsing a letter calling on the Bush administration to increase financial aid for Abbas. AIPAC’s support of that letter, which was initiated by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), has drawn sharp criticism from some of its donors who back right-wing Israel-related causes.