Former Congressman Howard Berman, left, and Cornel West, at right, listening to testimony at a Democratic Party platform drafting committee hearing in Washington, D.C., June 9 2016. (Ron Kampeas)

(JTA) — The Democratic Party’s Platform Committee rejected an amendment that would have called for the end to Israel’s “occupation and illegal settlements.”

The committee vote on Saturday to defeat the amendment was 95-73.  Committee members pledged to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton reportedly led opposition to the amendment.

After the amendment was defeated, supporters of candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders, reportedly jeered and chanted “Free, free Palestine,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Prominent scholar Cornel West, a Sanders appointee to the Platform Committee, spoke in favor of the amendment, saying Democrats should show “double love.”

“We ought to have a love for our precious Jewish brothers and sisters and a love for Palestinians,” he told the 187-member committee on Saturday.

The platform draft dated July 1, 2016, said of Israel: “A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States because we share overarching strategic interests and the common values of democracy, equality, tolerance, and pluralism. That is why we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself, including by retaining its qualitative military edge, and oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.

“We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity. While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths. Israelis deserve security, recognition, and a normal life free from terror and incitement. Palestinians should be free to govern themselves in their own viable state, in peace and dignity,” the platform draft said.

For months, Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win a major party nominating state vote, has sought to elevate the issue of Palestinian rights in the platform.

Clinton has secured enough delegates to win the first round of voting for the presidential nomination at the convention in Philadelphia July 25-28. Sanders, unusually for a candidate who is set to lose, was given five spots on the platform drafting committee, a reflection of the strength of his campaign.

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