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Platform Statements — DNC
Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1988: Palestine
We believe that this country, maintaining the special relationship with Israel founded upon mutually shared values and strategic interests, should provide new leadership to deliver the promise of peace and security through negotiations that has been held out to Israel and its neighbors by the Camp David Accords.
CATEGORIES: 1988 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1984: Palestine
The Democratic Party condemns this Administration’s failure to maintain a high-level Special Negotiator for the Middle East, and believes that the Camp David peace process must be taken up again with urgency. No nation in the Middle East can afford to wait until a new war brings even worse destruction. Once again we applaud and support the example of both Israel and Egypt in taking bold steps for peace. We believe that the United States should press for negotiations among Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. We re-emphasize the fundamental principle that the prerequisite for a lasting peace in the Middle East remains an Israel with secure and defensible borders, strong beyond a shadow of a doubt; that the basis for peace is the unequivocal recognition of Israel’s right to exist by all other states; and that there should be a resolution of the Palestinian issue.
CATEGORIES: 1984 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1980: Palestine
Negotiations are continuing under the Camp David framework on full autonomy for the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza, in order to preserve fully Israel’s security while permitting the Palestinians living in the territories to participate in determining their own future. The United States is a full partner in negotiations between Israel and Egypt to provide for a five-year transitional regime in the West Bank and Gaza. At the same time, the United States’ commitment to the independence, security, and future of Israel has been strengthened. Nearly half of all U.S. aid to Israel since its creation as a sovereign state—more than $10 billion—has been requested during the last three and a half years. We provide Israel with modern military equipment and we fully support Israel’s efforts to create a just and lasting peace with all of its Arab neighbors.U.S. policy is—and should continue to be—guided also by the following principles. UN Security council Resolution 242, unchanged, and the Camp David Accords are the basis for peace in the Middle East. We support Israel’s security, and will continue to provide generous military and economic aid to that end. We pledge not to provide Israel’s potential enemies with sophisticated offensive equipment that could endanger the security of Israel. Jerusalem should remain forever undivided, with free access to the holy places for people of all faiths. We oppose creation of an independent Palestinian state. We will not negotiate with or recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization, unless and until it accepts Israel’s right to exist and UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. It is also long past time for an end to all terrorism and other acts of violence against Israel. We have not and will not use our aid to Israel as a bargaining tool; and we will never permit oil policies to influence our policy toward peace or our support for Israel.
CATEGORIES: 1980 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1976: Palestine
The cornerstone of our policy is a firm commitment to the independence and security of the State of Israel. This special relationship does not prejudice improved relations with other nations in the region. We steadfastly oppose any move to isolate Israel in the international arena or suspend it from the United Nations or its constituent organizations. We will avoid efforts to impose on the region an externally devised formula for settlement, and will provide support for initiatives toward settlement, based on direct face-to-face negotiation between the parties and normalization of relations and a full peace within secure and defensible boundaries.
CATEGORIES: 1976 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1972: Palestine
The United States must be unequivocally committed to support of Israel’s right to exist within secure and defensible boundaries. Progress toward a negotiated political settlement in the Middle East will permit Israel and her Arab neighbors to live at peace with each other, and to turn their energies to internal development. Recognize and support the established status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, with free access to all its holy places provided to all faiths. the U.S. Embassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
CATEGORIES: 1972 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1968: Palestine
As long as Israel is threatened by hostile and well-armed neighbors, we will assist her with essential military equipment needed for her defense. Lasting peace in the Middle East depends upon agreed and secured frontiers, respect for the territorial integrity of all states, a humane resettlement of the Arab refugees, and the establishment of a non-provocative military balance. To achieve these objectives, we support negotiations among the concerned parties.
CATEGORIES: 1968 DNC Palestine
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 2008: United Nations
To enhance global cooperation on issues from weapons proliferation to climate change, we need stronger international institutions. We believe that the United Nations is indispensable but requires far-reaching reform. The U.N. Secretariat’s management practices remain inadequate. Peacekeeping operations are overextended. The new U.N. Human Rights Council remains biased and ineffective. Yet none of these problems will be solved unless America rededicates itself to the organization and its mission. We support reforming key global institutions—such as the U.N. Security Council and the G-8—so they will be more reflective of 21st Century realities.
CATEGORIES: 2008 DNC United Nations
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1980: United Nations
In each of the regions of the globe, international organizations and agencies will be tested in the coming decade and will play an increasingly crucial role. The United Nations remains the only forum where rich and poor, East and West, and neutral nations can come together to air their grievances, participate in respected forums of world opinion, and find mechanisms to resolve disputes without resort to force. In particular, in recent months the UN has been a forum for expressing the world’s condemnation and rejection of both the hostage-taking in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United Nations is also vital in other ways—through its international refugee efforts, coordination of development assistance, support for agricultural research, and worldwide eradication of disease.The United Nations and these agencies perform a vital role in the search for peace. They deserve America’s continuing support—and they will receive it from the Democratic Administration. We support the call in Section 503 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1978, for the United States to make “a major effort toward reforming and restructuring the United Nations system.” We also endorse that portion of the President’s report to Congress in March, 1978 on UN reform and restructuring which calls for the Senate “to reexamine the Connally reservation,” “the creation of a U.N. Peacekeeping Reserve composed of national contingents trained in peacekeeping functions,” the establishment of “a new UN senior post as High Commissioner of Human Rights,” and the development of autonomous sources of income for the international community.
CATEGORIES: 1980 DNC United Nations
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1976: United Nations
We cannot give expression to our national values without continuing to play a strong role in the affairs of the United Nations and its agencies. Firm and positive advocacy of our positions is essential. We should make a major effort at reforming and restructuring the U.N. systems. The intensity of interrelated problems is rapidly increasing, and it is likely that in the future, the issues of war and peace will be more a function of economic and social problems than of the military security problems that have dominated international relations since 1945. The heat of debate at the General Assembly should not obscure the value of our supporting United Nations involvement in keeping the peace and in the increasingly complex technical and social problems—such as pollution, health, economic development and population growth—that challenge the world community. But we must let the world know that anti-American polemics are no substitute for sound policy and that the United Nations is weakened by harsh rhetoric from other countries or by blasphemous resolutions such as the one equating Zionism and racism.
CATEGORIES: 1976 DNC United Nations
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Monday February 06, 2012
DNC 1972: United Nations
The United Nations.—The U.N. cannot solve all the great political problems of our time, but in an increasingly interdependent world, a world body is essential and its potential must be increasingly relied upon. The next Democratic Administration should: Re-establish the U.N. as a key forum for international activity, and assign representatives with the highest qualification for diplomacy; Give strong executive branch leadership for U.S. acceptance of its obligations for U.N. financing, while renegotiating arrangement for sharing U.N. costs; Work for development of enforceable world law as a basis for peace, and endorse repeal of the Connally Reservation on U.S. acceptance of World Court jurisdiction.
CATEGORIES: 1972 DNC United Nations
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Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013
