Several pro-Israel sections of the 2008 Democratic Party platform
have been removed from the 2012 platform—on Jerusalem, Palestinian
refugees, and Hamas. The new platform represents another shift by the
Obama Democrats toward the Palestinian position on key issues in the
peace process.
For Jerusalem, the new platform has been brought into line with the
Obama administration’s policy of not recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital and supporting its division. Jerusalem is unmentioned in the
2012 document, whereas the 2008 and
2004 Democratic Party platforms declared “Jerusalem is and will remain
the capital of Israel…It should remain an undivided city accessible to
people of all faiths.” The Obama administration’s refusal to recognize Jerusalem has been a point of significant controversy in recent months.
On the issue of Palestinian refugees, the new document has removed
language from the 2004 and 2008 platforms specifying that Palestinian
“refugees” should be settled in a future Palestinian state, not in
Israel.
UPDATE (2:39 p.m.): Mitt Romney released a statement Tuesday
afternoon, criticizing the Democratic platform for removing the
Jerusalem language:
“It is unfortunate that the entire Democratic Party has embraced
President Obama’s shameful refusal to acknowledge that Jerusalem is
Israel’s capital. Four years of President Obama’s repeated attempts to
create distance between the United States and our cherished ally have
led the Democratic Party to remove from their platform an unequivocal
acknowledgment of a simple reality. As president, I will restore our
relationship with Israel and stand shoulder to shoulder with our close
ally.”
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