[Seattle-editorial] Feature proposal: Dem party pandering to Isreali leader and policies

Fri May 28 15:16:51 PDT 2004

Eds, 

This speaks to me as a person trying to be a good Democrat this
year. As an official at the district convention, I'm appalled at the
change in our adopted plank by the party Chair and Central
Committee.

I will work to elect our nominee this year, which is my obligation
as a party offocial. But I don't think I'll like it very much at
this rate.

Joseph

----- Forwarded message from Ibrahim al-Husseini
<ibrahimal at yahoo.com> -----
    Date: Fri, 28 May 2004 01:21:47 -0700 (PDT)
    From: Ibrahim al-Husseini <ibrahimal at yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Ibrahim al-Husseini <ibrahimal at yahoo.com>
 Subject: [snow] My Letter to Democrats
      To: ACW <arabcenterofwashington at yahoogroups.com>, Seattle
Muslims activists <seattlemuslimactivists at yahoogroups.com>, sm2
<muslims-in-seattle at yahoogroups.com>

Greetings Friends,

As one of many activists who worked on this for the past three
months or so, I feel completely disheartened by the actions of the
Democratic Party Leadership in King County.  We have stayed the
course in this process to the best of our abilities. In return we
experienced first hand what causes millions of people in the middle
east to be  angry, have no faith in a possible balanced approach,
and resigned to the notion of dialogue.

We are told not to give up, to keep trying.  Yes I am sure
Palestinians who died in Rafah in the last weeks are looking at us
from up above from a place in the heavens created for those who
lived all their lives in suffering telling us not to give up.

Please read Naseem Tuffah's letter below,  and for those of you in
the Democratic Party who are glad that you did not alienate a large
segments of the party,  congratulations. For those who we almost
offended and alienated...  welcome back to the party... we apologize
for offending your sensibilities, but our families are being
slaughtered everyday. We will be patient with you,  we must take our
time till you are ready,  Take your time, do not be rushed. We must
not alienate you.  Welcome back to your Party. 

Ibrahim.

Read the full article at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/175412_robert28.html

-----Original Message-----

From: Naseem Tuffaha [mailto:naseemt1948 at hotmail.com] 

Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 3:19 PM

Subject: My Letter to Democrats

An Open Letter to Washington State Democrats:

While President Bush’s approval numbers continue to drop as more and
more Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong
direction, Democrats have never felt as optimistic as we do today
that Bush will not be re-elected in November.  This is an amazing
fact, considering Bush’s stature of near invincibility only two
years ago and the unprecedented war chest of funds the Bush team has
been able to raise.

But key questions remain.  Do we as Democrats really have something
to feel good about?  Do Democratic leaders present a bold vision
that inspires us as well as Americans across party lines?  Do they
act with courage and principles that make us proud to be Democrats? 
Or is it that we seek to win offices by not being quite as bad as
our opponents?  Based on the actions of Democratic leaders over the
past few weeks, it appears some real soul-searching is in order.

On a national level, we see John Kerry maintain near silence on what
is becoming the most pressing issue of our time – the war in Iraq
which has taken the lives of over 800 American service men and
women, thousands of Iraqi civilians, and has cost us tens of
billions of dollars.  Only a few weeks ago, in an overt display of
political pandering, John Kerry decided to align himself with the
policies of Israel’s right-wing government led by the notorious
Ariel Sharon who continues to flagrantly violate international law
with his attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Locally, in King County, we sadly see similar displays of weakness
among our party leadership.  On May 8th King County Convention, a
platform plank was passed by Democratic Party delegates calling for
an end of U.S. aid to Israel while it violates international law.
Party leaders scurried over the following week to examine ways to
undermine this plank.  The King County Chair appeared on a
right-wing radio show to apologize profusely and diminish both the
value of the platform and the process by which it was adopted. 
Challenges to the plank were brought forward on procedural grounds
in attempts to remove it from the platform.  And the plank was
mysteriously omitted from the King County platform that was sent to
the Washington State platform committee, even though another plank
addressing the Israeli-Palestinian issue that some viewed as more
“balanced” remained intact.

A number of Democrats who observed this sequence of questionable
moves decided to take action.  A call-down effort was organized to
inform party delegates of attempts to bypass the democratic process.
 The reaction among the grassroots of the party was tremendous.  The
vast majority of delegates who received phone calls decided to sign
on to the petition supporting the democratic process by which the
plank was adopted.  Even some who voted against the plank at the
King County Convention felt it more important to uphold the
democratic process.  One person did call back several days later to
ask that her name be removed from the petition.  She stated she was
“a chicken” and was worried that such a platform plank could cost
John Kerry the election.  She was an exception.

Things began to look up as the King County Chair issued a written
statement on May 24th in which he declared “the platform plank will
stand as adopted by the delegation on May 8th.  We will be meeting
on May 25th to adopt the final platform, but will only address the
add-on planks that were not addressed on May 8th.  Anything that was
passed on the convention floor will stand and will not be
revisited.”

However, at the May 25th meeting of the King County Central
Committee, through a series of motions, back-door moves and
consultations with Robert’s Rules, the issue was in fact revisited.
The language of the plank was changed so as not to include any
reference to Israel. Instead, it became a broad statement about
ending aid to any country in violation of international law.

While such a statement is a welcome addition to the platform, it is
a troublesome replacement of the previous platform plank regarding
aid to Israel for a number of reasons.  First, it loses the
perspective that Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. aid,
receiving over 1/3 of the entire U.S. foreign aid budget.  Second,
it loses the perspective of Israel’s role as a violator of
international law.  Currently, Israel is in violation of over 30
U.N. Security Council resolutions – more than any country in the
world.

The fact that our government should consistently respect
international law should not be used to grant Israel cover behind
anonymous statements.  The King County platform is quite specific in
many other places including the foreign policy section. For example,
the platform opposes specific trade agreements such as GATT, NAFTA,
WTO, FTAA.  It does not broadly assert opposition to “unfair trade
agreements” and then refrain from listing examples.  Also, the
platform opposes the efforts to overturn treaties such as ABM, ICC,
Kyoto.  It doesn’t broadly refer only to “international treaties”. 
It names them to bring the appropriate clarity and emphasis.  

Similarly, the delegates who voted for the plank at the King County
Convention felt it appropriate to bring focus to Israel.  The King
Country Central Committee has now washed it away preferring instead
to make it the proverbial elephant in the room.

The most troubling parts of this process, however, are the actions
and motivations of a number of Democratic Party leaders.  The King
County Chair said the plank would not be revisited, yet it was.  He
said the plank would stand as adopted, yet it didn’t.  While there
may be procedural justifications as to why the King County Central
Committee had the authority to change the plank, the credibility of
the King County Chair is now further called into question based on
the statement he issued only the day before.

The most vocal advocate for changing the plank was the Chair of the
King County Young Democrats.  His argument to the Central Committee
centered around “not alienating an important constituency in the
Democratic party”.  

In a year where Democrats have emphasized the need for “backbone”
and speaking up for what is right, the Chair of the Young Democrats
chose to argue for perceived political expediency.  And for most of
his colleagues on the Central Committee, that was good enough.

While this process has revealed disappointing behavior by some party
leaders, it has generated enormous enthusiasm and support among the
grassroots of the Democratic party.  Many have come forward to
express heartfelt thanks for raising an issue that was previously
considered taboo within the party.  They have been waiting a long
time for this dialogue to take place and many are eager to join in.

This year, the grassroots of the Democratic party in Washington
state has spoken loudly and clearly on this issue.  The grassroots
has passed over a dozen resolutions against the Berlin-style Wall
that Israel is building on Palestinians lands.  The grassroots has
passed a strongly worded platform plank in the 46th Legislative
District making aid to Israel contingent upon dismantling the Wall
and ending its occupation of Palestinian territories.  

Any place the grassroots has had an opportunity to pass such
pro-justice planks and resolutions, it has done so.  An exciting,
deep-rooted change is taking place on the ground floor of the
Democratic party, even though these changes seem to frighten the
Chairs and committees that loom large with political ambition.

Martin Luther King once said, “We must build dikes of courage to
hold back the flood of fear.”  That is the challenge before us in
the grassroots of the Democratic party.  As Democratic leaders all
too often let fear dominate their decisions, we must set a strong
example of the courage and integrity that will inspire people and
attract more voters to our party.  Only then will we earn the
position to help create a truly just and fair society.

--Naseem Tuffaha

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Joseph
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