On the eve of the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the division within the Democratic Party over Israel's barbaric war of extermination on the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip was on full display at the convention.

Lawmakers, delegates and pro-Palestinian activists gathered in a park near the United Center to explain why they insisted that the Biden administration immediately impose an embargo on the weapons that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, a demand that was central to their efforts to deal with a conference program that embraced full support for Israel.

While the Democratic Caucus was convening to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, dozens of Democratic members of Congress gathered for a luncheon organized by the Democratic Majority for Israel, a front for unstinting support for Israel, founded specifically to counter the rising level of criticism of the Israeli occupation’s practices against Palestinians in the besieged West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip, even before Israel launched its war on the Strip more than ten months ago.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Democratic National Convention organizers were planning to give John and Rachel Goldberg Polin, the parents of an Israeli detainee who holds Israeli citizenship, time to speak on the convention's main stage, while Palestinian Americans were still waiting for word on whether a Palestinian-American speaker would be given a similar opportunity.

“The Uncommitted delegates are urging the Democratic Party to reject the hierarchy of human value by ensuring that Palestinian voices are heard on the main stage,” Abbas Alawiya, a co-founder of the Uncommitted movement, said in a series of tweets on the X platform. “We learned that the families of the Israeli hostages will be speaking on the main stage. We strongly support this resolution and hope to also hear from the Palestinians who have endured the highest number of civilian deaths since 1948.”

“The exclusion of a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to value the lives of Israelis and Palestinians equally,” Alawiya said. “Vice President Kamala Harris must unify this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians.” “The difficulty in approving a single Palestinian American speaker among the dozens on the convention stage sends a troubling message to anti-war voters, signaling that they are not truly included in this party.”

“The pain and loss of an Israeli or a Palestinian is no different, but there is an additional sting in our communities when we know that our tax dollars are funding the murder of our loved ones,” he said, noting that “we have provided the Democratic Party with a list of names and we are prepared to provide more if necessary. There is no reason not to do so.”

Speakers at the progressive rally organized by the National Unaffiliated Movement included Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born woman who wears a hijab and the only hijab-wearing woman in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Rep. Cori Bush, a Minnesota Democrat who was recently defeated in the Missouri primary after the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC spent more than $15 million to defeat her.

“The pro-genocide lobby spent millions to buy my seat in an attempt to silence my voice,” Bush said. “These efforts have not succeeded, because I will never stop speaking up for what is right. I will never stop standing up for the dignity and safety of all people.”

“Ask yourself: How can our secretary of state travel 11 times begging to end the genocidal situation that we are actually enabling by providing the bombs and weapons that created it? Where is our patriotism? Where is our dignity? How can we allow our secretary of state to go to Israel and say that we are getting closer to securing a ceasefire now for the 11th time, and then leave for Egypt, only to have Bibi Netanyahu hold a press conference right after and say that we will not accept a deal that will end this war,” she continued. “How can we not be ashamed that this is the humiliation that our administration’s representatives are facing?”

The White House issued a statement saying that US President Joe Biden, in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, stressed the urgent need to conclude a ceasefire agreement in Gaza in exchange for the release of the hostages, noting that the upcoming talks in Cairo would be decisive.

“President Biden spoke today with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the statement said. “The President and the Prime Minister discussed active and ongoing U.S. efforts to support Israel’s defense against all threats from Iran, including its affiliated terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, including ongoing U.S. defensive military deployments.”

Officials describe a basket of diplomatic and military issues that remain unresolved — and the challenges that President Joe Biden and his team face over the coming week.

For his part, the Washington Post commentator, David Ignacio, who is close to the administration, wrote an article on Wednesday evening, in which he claimed that the first big problem is that Hamas has remained silent on the “bridge proposal” drafted by American mediators to resolve differences over the proposed 45-day cease-fire and the release of Israeli hostages. American officials said on Wednesday that they were waiting four days for Hamas to answer basic questions, such as the names of the hostages to be released.

“US officials believe that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, trapped underground in Gaza and running out of ammunition and supplies, favors a deal,” Ignacios writes in his article. “In addition to halting Israel’s offensive, this would mean the release of hundreds of Palestinians from Israeli prisons, the evacuation of wounded Hamas fighters and blessed relief for Palestinian civilians after 10 months of terrible suffering.”