Nadene Goldfoot
Back in 2008, the Democratic Party's platform included a section dedicated to the Middle East called "Stand with Allies and Pursue Diplomacy in the Middle East." It stressed the importance of the US to lead on peace efforts. It had said, Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. Yet the USA has never kept its promise on this point and has not recognized it as the capital.
This year of 2012, evidently Obama's Democratic Party removed a reference to Jerusalem as Israel's capital from the party's official platform. Three paragraphs titled, "The Middle East" started with a lengthy declaration of support for Israel and President Obama's steps to ensure Israeli military's qualitative edge.
Peace was mentioned in the 2nd paragraph with several warning points favoring Israel, stressing that "the President has made clear that there will be no lasting peace unless Israel's security concerns are met", and that "President Obama will continue to press Arab states to "reach out to Israel" and even as the President and the Democratic Party continue to encourage all parties to be resolute in pursuit of peace, we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel's right to exist, reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements." I must say that their reaching out has only been in the form of rockets, missiles and mortars for the past 11 years.
The platform didn't mention Jerusalem. Some noticed that the wording about Iran wasn't very strong. Melanie Roussell, Democratic spokeswoman, defended the change and said that the present administration has the same policy as everyone has had since 1967. That's the problem, Melanie. It's been 45 years that Jerusalem has again been Israel's capital and yet the USA hasn't recognized this fact of life. This very recognition just might be the ticket to tell the Arab states that Israel is there to stay and that it's time they recognize it and live with it.
Mitt Romney's campaign stated that the Democrats have refused to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. He will restore the USA "relationship with Israel and stand shoulder to shoulder with our close ally."
The Democrats revised their platform earlier in the day but still wouldn't admit that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Resource: haaretz.com/../u-s-democratic-party-drops-reference-to-jerusalem-as-israel-s-capital-from-platform US Democratic Party drops reference to Jerusalem as Israel's capital from platform
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/DemoPlatform08.html
Back in 2008, the Democratic Party's platform included a section dedicated to the Middle East called "Stand with Allies and Pursue Diplomacy in the Middle East." It stressed the importance of the US to lead on peace efforts. It had said, Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. Yet the USA has never kept its promise on this point and has not recognized it as the capital.
This year of 2012, evidently Obama's Democratic Party removed a reference to Jerusalem as Israel's capital from the party's official platform. Three paragraphs titled, "The Middle East" started with a lengthy declaration of support for Israel and President Obama's steps to ensure Israeli military's qualitative edge.
Peace was mentioned in the 2nd paragraph with several warning points favoring Israel, stressing that "the President has made clear that there will be no lasting peace unless Israel's security concerns are met", and that "President Obama will continue to press Arab states to "reach out to Israel" and even as the President and the Democratic Party continue to encourage all parties to be resolute in pursuit of peace, we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel's right to exist, reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements." I must say that their reaching out has only been in the form of rockets, missiles and mortars for the past 11 years.
The platform didn't mention Jerusalem. Some noticed that the wording about Iran wasn't very strong. Melanie Roussell, Democratic spokeswoman, defended the change and said that the present administration has the same policy as everyone has had since 1967. That's the problem, Melanie. It's been 45 years that Jerusalem has again been Israel's capital and yet the USA hasn't recognized this fact of life. This very recognition just might be the ticket to tell the Arab states that Israel is there to stay and that it's time they recognize it and live with it.
Mitt Romney's campaign stated that the Democrats have refused to acknowledge that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. He will restore the USA "relationship with Israel and stand shoulder to shoulder with our close ally."
The Democrats revised their platform earlier in the day but still wouldn't admit that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
Resource: haaretz.com/../u-s-democratic-party-drops-reference-to-jerusalem-as-israel-s-capital-from-platform US Democratic Party drops reference to Jerusalem as Israel's capital from platform
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/DemoPlatform08.html
Update 9/6/12, http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-criticize-democrats-jerusalem-stance-143416965.html, With Democratic convention going on, they took out Jerusalem as the capital and then put it back in .What is "said" and what will be contractual "written" as policy is to be seen. So far, it has not been the American policy to accept Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
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