The Democratic Platform Drafting Committee voted against an amendment that would have condemned Israeli “occupation and illegal settlements” and legitimized the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement Friday.
In an 8-5 vote, the pro-Clinton majority rejected the amendment, which Bernie Sanders himself helped write.
“Language about just a two-state solution doesn’t quite go to the point,” said pro-Palestinian activist and president of the Arab American Institute James Zogby in his introduction for the revisions. “The reality is that Palestinians are living under occupation.”
Zogby, a Sanders appointee, categorically rejected debate over the term “occupation” and reiterated an argument he made in favor of the phrase during a committee meeting in early June.
“The term occupation shouldn’t be controversial,” he said. “There is an occupation. It denies people freedom. Our president has said that.”
Sanders-appointed professor Cornel West echoed Zogby’s sentiments, as he did at the prior meeting.
“It is an occupation. Occupation is evil,” West said. “We can never fully respect the Palestinians unless we can name what they’re up against. The boot on their necks.”
The Sanders-backed amendment also called for “an international effort to rebuild Gaza.” It further urged removing criticism of the BDS movement, which Zogby and West both support.
Ambassador Wendy Sherman, appointed by Hillary Clinton–a critic of the movement–argued for maintaining the platform’s current language on BDS based on the group’s history of veering into anti-Semitism. West rebuffed the idea that BDS was anti-Semitic at an earlier committee meeting.
“When [BDS’s] actions de-legitimize Israel, or in fact, whether wittingly or unwittingly, create anti-Semitism, then we must say that that is not a good thing,” Sherman said.
Despite failing to pass revisions related to “occupation” and settlement activity, the Sanders team celebrated the draft’s recognition of Palestinian “independence, sovereignty, and dignity,” a change that also garnered praise from the progressive advocacy group J Street.
Sanders expressed disappointment over losing certain “fights” during the platform meeting that Sunday, but promised to press on to the convention.
“We lost some very important fights. We’re going to take that fight to Orlando, where the entire committee meets in two weeks,” Sanders said on CNN. “If we don’t succeed there, we are certainly going to take it to the floor of the Democratic Convention.”
