Democratic National Committee rejects protesters’ demands for a Palestinian president

Democrats rejected protesters’ demands to allow a Palestinian to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Uncommitted delegates – who oppose US support for Israel’s war in Gaza – began a sit-in protest just outside the arena gates on Wednesday night.

But as of 6 p.m. local time Thursday – the deadline set by protesters for news from Harris’ campaign – activists said they had not received a response to their demands that a Palestinian be allowed on stage.

The sit-in protest on the final night of the convention came as thousands of demonstrators outside the perimeter continued to rally against the Gaza war and White House policies.

This week’s protests have been largely peaceful, with the exception of a smaller, unauthorized demonstration outside the Israeli consulate that led to 56 arrests.

“This is a disastrous decision by Democratic leaders to reject a minimal demand that we made weeks ago, before the convention,” said Layla Elabed, co-leader of the national Uncommitted Movement.

Harris’ campaign told the BBC that campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez had met with leaders of the uncommitted movement in recent days.

“Several speakers spoke about the war in Gaza and the need for a ceasefire and an agreement on the release of the hostages. You will continue to hear that message,” a spokesperson said.

Unpledged delegates were selected in state Democratic primaries earlier this year. President Joe Biden won a landslide share of voters in the primaries, but pro-Palestinian activists urged people to vote “unpledged” and similar options in a number of states.

Enough Democratic voters turned out to send 30 delegates to the Chicago convention, out of a total of more than 2,400 delegates.

Israel’s war in Gaza has divided the Democratic Party, but was largely avoided as a topic of discussion at the DNC this week.

The uncommitted protesters said they gave the Harris campaign a list of several potential Palestinians who could speak at the conference.

Activists said Harris’ campaign sent aides and lawmakers to the sit-in protest outside the arena Wednesday night to try to resolve the conflict, but they declined to offer a speaking slot.

Uncommitted activists said they were told the focus of the convention was on the vice president, as she prepared to deliver a speech that would be the “biggest of her life.”

Delegates said they had been asking for two months for a Palestinian speaker to address the crowd at the convention.

“We’re going to have to have a lot of tough conversations with the vice president and her team after this,” said Abbas Alawieh, an unpledged delegate from Michigan. “We’re going to have to take stock of what happened.”

Despite the large demonstrations outside the arena gates, the war in Gaza was mentioned by only a handful of speakers throughout the four-day programme.

Mr. Alawieh said the goal of having a Palestinian speaker at the convention was to “force” the Democratic Party to “create space to talk about Palestinian human rights.”

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, an outspoken critic of US support for Israel, told the BBC she was not surprised the topic was not discussed much during the convention.

“It’s interesting that foreign policy is never really a topic that’s talked about a lot,” she said. “But I’ve always thought of foreign policy as domestic policy.”