DNC Middle East Working Group Faces Ultimatum Amid Stalled Progress on Israel-Palestine Policy

NEW ORLEANS – The Democratic National Committee’s Middle East working group, established seven months ago to navigate deep internal divisions on Israel and Palestine, now faces a direct mandate for action. At the recent DNC spring meeting, the resolutions committee referred a controversial proposal to recognize Palestinian statehood back to the struggling task force, signaling an urgent expectation for tangible results after months of limited progress.

DNC Chair Ken Martin formed the eight-member working group following the tabling of two divisive resolutions last August, aiming to foster dialogue and develop party-wide solutions. Composed of DNC members with backgrounds in both Jewish and Palestinian advocacy, the group has encountered significant obstacles. These include difficulties in scheduling consistent meetings across time zones, one member's active political campaigning, and persistent challenges in reaching consensus amidst sharp ideological divides. Members have openly expressed frustration over the group’s lack of a clear agenda. Steph Newton, a DNC member from Oregon, noted, “People aren’t comfortable with being uncomfortable. These uncomfortable discussions are how we’re going to be able to move the party forward and find a solution.” James Zogby, another member, recounted, “Most of the time, what we’ve talked about is, ‘What are we supposed to be doing?’”

The group’s perceived inaction became a focal point at the New Orleans meeting when Joe Salas, a California DNC member and part of the working group, submitted a resolution advocating for Palestinian statehood. Notably, Salas did so without prior consultation with his fellow working group members, a move that surprised some colleagues. Cameron Landon, Vice President of the College Democrats of America, spoke in favor of Salas’s resolution, highlighting growing public anger and the working group’s failure to produce results in a critical midterm year.

“It is necessary for the Democratic National Committee to address the ongoing heinous and illegal acts against the Palestinian people. Some here may say that there is a working group. To that, I say that we are in a midterm year and they are yet to produce any results in a moment where anger has only grown amongst the American people,” Landon asserted.

Working group members like Zogby and Newton expressed dismay at the unilateral submission. Deborah Cunningham-Skurnik, another member, indicated a desire to review the resolution’s specifics with Salas, who opted not to attend the New Orleans meeting, stating he would “just gonna let them have those words and reject them, accept them, modify them, whatever they want to do.”

The DNC resolutions committee, co-chaired by Ron Harris, ultimately referred Salas’s proposals back to the Middle East working group. This referral carried a clear directive: “We recommend this going back to the task force,” Harris stated, adding, “But then we can put some—I don’t want to say ‘constraints,’ but expectations that we hear back.” John Verdejo, a DNC member, was more direct, challenging the group to “make the hard changes, have the hard discussions? Then do it.”

Allison Minnerly, a working group member from Florida, underscored the ongoing pressure: “It’s really clear that this issue will keep coming up at every subsequent DNC meeting until there’s a clear direction, solution, talking points.” A DNC spokesperson reiterated the group’s mandate to develop strategies for discussing the Middle East with voters to build coalitions and secure electoral victories.

Now equipped with a concrete, near-term objective, the working group faces a critical test. Zogby expressed a sense of renewed purpose, stating, “I actually am pleased that we will now have a very specific charge that we must accomplish in a defined period of time... Now we have to get this done, and there’s just no way we can duck it at this point.” This development sets a significant precedent for the DNC as it navigates internal discord on foreign policy, particularly as such divisions can become liabilities in electoral campaigns.