Sanders says he’ll push for Palestinian rights in Dem platform

Bernie Sanders expects his views on Palestinians rights to be reflected at the Democratic National Convention, and his appointees to the party’s platform drafting committee have pledged to push for acknowledgement of the Israeli occupation, he says in a statement reported in The New York Times.

“I have always and will always be 100 percent supportive of Israel’s right to exist and live in peace and security,” Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont who is vying for the Democratic presidential nod, says.

“I also believe that lasting peace in the region will not occur without fair and respectful treatment of the Palestinian people,” he says. “I believe that most Democrats agree with that position and that a strong consensus will be achieved at the Democratic National Convention.”

Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win major party nominating contests, has said that he is “100 percent” pro-Israel and has argued in left wing circles for the need to preserve Israel’s security. He has also chided fellow Democrats, chief among them his rival, Hillary Clinton, who is the front-runner in the nomination stakes, for not paying enough attention to the Palestinians. He has decried Israel’s settlements policy and has said it uses force disproportionately in dealing with Palestinian violence.

Sanders’ statement comes after he named a slate of five delegates to the 15-person platform drafting committee that includes three people known for pro-Palestinian activism: Philosopher Cornel West, James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute, and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

The Democratic party platform has for years favored a two-state outcome to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but has also cast that posture on pro-Israel terms, and has laid the blame for the longstanding impasse mostly on the Palestinians.

— JTA