US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has ordered the removal of any reference to the Israeli occupation in his campaign program just days before it was released on July 15, Foreign Policy revealed on Thursday.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who withdrew his presidential campaign in favor of Biden, had agreed with Biden that he would include in the Democratic Party platform an assertion that Palestinians had a right to live free of foreign “occupation”, referring to Israel.

Shame on ⁦@JoeBiden⁩ https://t.co/OFk2dNmKA9

— Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) (@GilitBaltistan) August 8, 2020

However, under pressure from pro-Israeli advocacy groups, Biden made a last-minute decision to remove any reference to the Israeli occupation, Foreign Policy reported three sources confirming.

Therefore, Biden aides asked the progressive leaders in the Democratic Party and urged them to drop their demand to declare Israel an occupying power, the magazine reported.

According to the magazine, Biden aides argued that the inclusion of the word “occupation” threatened to undermine unity within the Democratic Party.

#GoodNews from #Washington: #AIPAC, #Apartheid #Israel Losing to Progressive Democrats – https://t.co/TcvkA5Zm4L via @commondreams #Palestine

— #BDSOurWeapon (@HelenaKasp) July 18, 2020

“The question of whether to allow the text to refer to ‘occupation’ or use the phrase ‘end the occupation’ was taken to the vice president and he said ‘no’,” Jason Isaacson, chief policy and political affairs officer at the American Jewish Committee, told Foreign Policy.

“This is not an issue on which the party can bend because it would be contrary to the position of Joe Biden,” Isaacson added.

Foreign Policy noted that the retraction reflected Biden’s reluctance to reverse decades of staunch support for Israel.

It also stated that this retreat marked something of a victory for the party’s establishment, which has sought to preserve close relations with Israel, even as its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved increasingly close to the Republican Party and its standard-bearer, President Donald Trump.

Zionist' Biden in His Own Words: 'My Name is Joe Biden, and Everybody Knows I Love Israel' | Opinion by: Ramzy Baroud https://t.co/hl8xjVzmuE

— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) March 14, 2020

“While many Democrats in Congress are increasingly in touch with the views of their constituencies, those at the helm, such as Biden, remain stubbornly committed to agendas that are championed by AIPAC and the rest of the old guard,” Palestinian journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle wrote in a recent article.

“The good news from Washington is that, despite Trump’s current support for Israel, an incremental, but lasting structural change continues to take place among Democratic Party supporters everywhere and throughout the country,” Baroud added.

(MEMO, PC, Social Medi)