Sanders wins greater say in Democratic platform; names pro-Palestinian activist.
'Sen. Bernie Sanders has chosen a well-known advocate for Palestinian rights to help draft the Democratic Party platform as party elders gave unusual say over the policy document to a longshot candidate who holds ensuring appeal for liberal Democrats and young voters. . .
Sanders’s slate includes James Zogby, a longtime activist on behalf of Palestinian rights as well as a DNC member and official. Zogby currently co-chairs the party’s resolutions committee. His inclusion is a sign of Sanders’s plans to push the party’s policy on Israel toward what he has called a more even-handed approach to the Palestinian cause. . .
The procedural concession represents an outreach from party elders aware that Sanders has tapped into a powerful anti-establishment current and concerned that it will be difficult to unite Democrats behind Clinton.
The platform committee is among the most important party bodies, since it writes the policy on which the presidential candidate runs and around which Democrats are supposed to rally. The platform is non-binding, however, and presidents have ignored parts of it in the past.
Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings was named by Wasserman Schultz. Most others named by Wasserman Schultz and Clinton are party stalwarts or Clinton supporters - the establishment Sanders has railed against to great effect. Sanders’s picks include people from outside the usual sphere of party influence, including a Native American activist and author and racial justice activist Cornel West.
Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute in Washington and a frequent commentator on Arab-Israeli issues, previously served on the larger platform committee that will approve the document, but this is the first time he has served on the drafting committee, he said.
Sanders’s approach to Israeli-Palestinian issues is in line with most Democrats’ views, Zogby said in an interview. Sanders wants American policy to respect both Israel’s security concerns and Palestinian rights, he said.
“You need to find a way to meet the needs of both. To say we will satisfy one without the other is a recipe for failure,” as peacemakers, Zogby said.
Writing on the institute’s web site Saturday, Zogby noted recent government shifts under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that consolidated his right-wing power base.
“His behavior has been shameful, but so too is the extent to which Israelis, Americans and others continue to enable his malevolent rule,” Zogby wrote.'>>>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sanders-scores-platform-concessions-from-democratic-national-committee/2016/05/23/e9ee8330-20fc-11e6-aa84-42391ba52c91_story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
