Sanders’ Challenge to Clinton and Democrats: Palestinian Lives Matter

[Israeli]

The party currently supports a two-state solution because it serves Israel’s interests, but not because Palestinians have the right to live as free citizens of their own country.

Peter Beinart May 25, 2016 3

When it comes to Israel, Bernie Sanders is already changing the Democratic Party.

In 2012, Barack Obama’s campaign chose the committee that drafted the party’s platform. On the 15-member panel, three of the four people who focused on Middle East issues espoused fairly conventional “Pro-Israel” views: former congressman Robert Wexler, then-congressman Barney Frank and Obama administration foreign policy official Colin Kahl. Wexler, Frank and Kahl certainly aren’t Likudniks. But they operate within the parameters of the Beltway consensus. Only one committee member --California Congresswoman Barbara Lee—has a history of challenging that consensus in support of Palestinian rights.

This week, the Democratic Party announced the drafting committee for 2016. Hillary Clinton’s campaign chose six members. The only one with a clear Middle East background is former State Department official Wendy Sherman. She too fits comfortably within the Washington consensus, albeit on the progressive side. So does former Congressman Howard Berman, who was among the four members chosen by Democratic National Committee Chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Schultz also reappointed Congresswoman Lee.

The big shift is the Sanders appointees. In deference to the Vermont Senator’s electoral success, the party awarded him the right to choose five members of the drafting committee. Three of Sanders’ choices have a profile on Middle East issues: Congressman Keith Ellison, one of the two Muslims in Congress, Arab American Institute President James Zogby and philosopher Cornel West. Ellison and Zogby are party insiders. West is a leftist activist. But all three are impassioned advocates for the Palestinian cause. Together, they virtually ensure an effort to shift the party platform in a pro-Palestinian direction. If the Clinton campaign resists that shift, expect a fight on the convention floor.

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