The 15-member committee drafting the Democratic Party’s 1984 election platform has overwhelmingly rejected a plank proposed by Rev. Jesse Jackson to put the party on record in favor of the establishment of “an independent state for Palestinians.”
The vote yesterday was 13-2 against the proposal which was presented by Walter Fauntroy, the District of Columbia’s representative in Congress who is one of the two Jackson delegates on the committee.
The Jackson plank also opposed moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The move has already been incorporated in the Party’s draft platform along with a series of other pro-Israel measures. The draft platform is subject to review by the 184-member Platform Committee.
Jackson is at serious odds with his party over Middle East policy and other issues including primary elections reforms and affirmative action. He has asked for a three-way meeting on these issues between himself and the tow other aspirants for the Democratic Presidential nomination, Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado and former Vice President Walter Mondale. Mondale, who claims he has sufficient delegates to win nomination on the first ballot in San Francisco next month, is opposed to a three-way meeting but reportedly would agree to meet separately with each of his rivals.
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