DEMOCRATIC Party US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders called for an end to the occupation of Palestine on Monday night — as his rival Hillary Clinton wooed the Israel lobby.

Addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) policy conference yesterday, Ms Clinton said she would “vigorously oppose” attempts to “impose” a peaceful solution to Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

She called the recent wave of Palestinian attacks on illegal Israeli settlers and occupation troops “terrorism” and dubbed boycotts of Israeli “anti-semitic.”

The former secretary of state declared that one of her first acts as president would be to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House and offer him more arms to terrorise the besieged Gaza Strip.

“As president, I will make a firm commitment to ensure Israel maintains its qualitative military edge,” she said.

“The US should provide Israel with the most sophisticated defense techno­logy.”

Mr Sanders, who has been criticised for not asserting his own Jewish identity more strongly, declined an invitation to the conference.

But in a separate speech, he said the US should be “a friend not only to Israel, but to the Palestinian people.”

“Peace will mean ending what amounts to the occupation of Palestinian territory, establishing mutually agreed upon borders, and pulling back settlements in the West Bank,” he said.

The left-wing candidate called plans to further expand Israeli settlements on Palestinian land “absurd” and Israel’s witholding of tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority “unaccept­able.”