The Republican National Committee adopted a resolution calling for “a united Israel governed under one law for all people.”
The resolution passed last week at an RNC conference in New Orleans. Some liberal bloggers suggested that the resolution effectively called for a single state in Israel and the West Bank, with citizenship rights extended to all.
With a preamble that describes the land of Israel as God-given to the Jews, and the resolution’s rejection of the term “occupier,” some critics charge the resolution endorses claims to the entire biblical land of Israel.
“There is no interpretation possible other than that the RNC is also advocating complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank, including granting citizenship to the Palestinians living there,” wrote Mitchell Plitnick, the blogger who first reported on the resolution.
However, the preamble’s language also suggests that the lands it refers to are those that Israel held before 1967.
“I’m not sure it takes a position on borders beyond allowing the State of Israel to have secure ones,” said Ralph Reed, a top Republican strategist and chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition. — jta