GOP Officially Endorses One-State Solution

This post originally appeared at The Third Way. A follow-up to this post is there, with further analysis and answers to some questions that have been raised about it.

Last week in New Orleans, the Republican National Committee officially adopted a resolution supporting a one-state solution in Israel-Palestine.

This news came to me via a very trusted source, but both I and my source were puzzled by the fact that we could find nothing in the media confirming this. I called the RNC, but they would neither confirm nor deny.

So, I contacted Cindy Costa, the RNC’s National Committeewoman from South Carolina who was listed as the sponsor of the resolution. Here’s our e-mail exchange:

MeDear Ms. Costa,

I am a correspondent for several web-based news outlets, including Inter Press Service. I received the resolution below today, and would like to write an article about it. I just wanted to check with you that this was in fact an officially adopted RNC resolution. Can you please let me know? Thanks.

Costa: Yes it was adopted unanimously by the RNC last Friday at our winter meeting in New Orleans.  Cindy

So, that seems pretty clear. I reprint the entire text of the resolution below (and I sent it fully to Ms. Costa so she could confirm the full text), but the key passage is this one:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.

I don’t see how anyone could read that as anything but a statement in support of a one-state solution. The RNC officially supports not only continued Israeli possession of all the land it currently controls, but advocates “one law for all people,” which does not exist now.

Israelis behind the Green Line live under Israeli law. So do settlers. But Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem are subject to a conglomeration of laws based on previous Jordanian law from before 1967, Israeli emergency laws and military regulations mostly adopted after 1967, and even some measure of old Ottoman laws, these particularly applied in East Jerusalem.

So, 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.

I rather doubt that’s what they intended, but that is what the resolution states. No doubt, the assembled delegates had no idea what they were advocating because they have no idea about the realities on the ground.

But one state for all, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, is now the official Republican stance. I’ll assume that committed one-staters who base their stance on Palestinian rights, rather than Israel’s “God-given privileges” are not suddenly going to support the GOP.

But it’s worth spreading this news around. While Republicans, and far too many clueless Democrats, berate Barack Obama for an imagined “lack of support” for Israel, we should see what they are actually advocating.

The RNC is obviously concerned about how this will look. Otherwise, why have they gone out of their way to keep this resolution under wraps? It certainly seems to me that if the New York Times had heard about it, they would have reported it.

So, here is the full text of the resolution adopted last week by the RNC. There’s plenty more that rational people will find disturbing in it, whatever your views on Israel-Palestine:

AN RNC RESOLUTION TO COMMEND THE NATION OF ISRAEL FOR ITS RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WHEREAS, Israel has been granted her lands under and through the oldest recorded deed as reported in the Old Testament, a tome of scripture held sacred and reverenced by Jew and Christian, alike, as the acts and words of God; and

WHEREAS, as the Grantor of said lands, God stated to the Jewish people in the Old Testament; in Leviticus, Chapter 20, Verse 24:  “Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey”; and

WHEREAS, God has never rescinded his grant of said lands; and

WHEREAS, along with the grant of said lands to the Jewish people, God provided for the non-Jewish residents of the land in commanding that governance must be in one law for all without drawing distinction between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, as contained in Leviticus 24:22, and

WHEREAS, the Nation of Israel declared its independent control and governance of said lands on May 14, 1948, with the goal of re-establishing their God-given lands as a homeland for the Jewish people; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America, having been the first country to recognize Israel as an independent nation and as Israel’s principal Mideast ally, has enjoyed a close and mutually beneficial relationship with Israel and her people; and

WHEREAS, indeed, Israel is the United States of America’s greatest friend in the Mideast; and

WHEREAS, the roots of Israel and the roots of the United States of America are so intertwined that it is difficult to separate one from the other under the word and protection of almighty God; and

WHEREAS, there are those in the Middle East who have sought to destroy Israel from its inception as anation; and

WHEREAS, those same enemies of Israel also seek to destroy the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, the United States of America and the nation of Israel have enjoyed cordial and mutually beneficial relations since 1948, a friendship that should continues to strengthen with each passing year.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Republican Nation Committee that the committee by this resolution commends the nation of Israel for its relations with the United States of America.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Senate Leadership and each of the legislatures of the states within the United States of America with the request and recommendation of this body that a similar resolution to that stated herein be proposed within their respective bodies.

Sponsor–Cindy Costa National Committeewoman South Carolina

Mitchell Plitnick

Mitchell Plitnick is a political analyst and writer. His previous positions include vice president at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, director of the US Office of B’Tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and co-director of Jewish Voice for Peace. His writing has appeared in Ha’aretz, the New Republic, the Jordan Times, Middle East Report, the San Francisco Chronicle, +972 Magazine, Outlook, and other outlets. He was a columnist for Tikkun Magazine, Zeek Magazine and Souciant. He has spoken all over the country on Middle East politics, and has regularly offered commentary in a wide range of radio and television outlets including PBS News Hour, the O’Reilly Factor, i24 (Israel), Pacifica Radio, CNBC Asia and many other outlets, as well as at his own blog, Rethinking Foreign Policy, at www.mitchellplitnick.com. You can find him on Twitter @MJPlitnick.

SHOW 5 COMMENTS

5 Comments

  1. This GOP Resolution seems incomplete in that it fails to address the question of the Palestinians conflicting claims to the same property.
    For the GOP Resolution to stand alone, I am sure that this omission will be soon corrected by adding the following:
    “It is further resolved that to be consistent with the wishes of the Creator, that the spurious claims of the Palestinians be addressed similiarly to the actions of the faithful servant of the Lord, Joshua, when vexed by the same problem some 5,000 years ago:”
    “And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword”
    JOSHUA 6-21 (KJV)

  2. It is amazing how stupid these people can be. The one solution will not work as long as Israel cannot kill or expel the arabs from the land. From official reports of Israel and the USA over 1,000,000 dual citizens of Israel/USA have not been to israel for over 1 year. That means that 25 percent of the jewish population do not live in israel. That kind of makes a farce of the call the Israel is a democracy. They lie when they claim that the minority jewish is a democracy. it will only get worse. It either will get more orthodox jews or more arabs. Both are a disaster for long term Israel. The orthodox and secular Jews will be a shooting war between each group as things are presently going.
    Hey make sure no one tells the fools of the GOP who are only after the big bucks of the AIPAC.

  3. I had a similar reaction to a letter in the SF Chronicle a few weeks back; I thought it was unwittingly arguing for a one state solution. I would say this phenomenon of right-wingers seemingly advocating a one-state solution is not limited to the RNC.

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/28/EDEQ1MHAV9.DTL

    Let’s not forget that Israel’s choices have been arranged on a triangle, whose points are the land, a Jewish majority, and democracy. Israel can pick any two. My opinion is that if they pick democracy, I don’t care which of the others they pick to go with it. Unfortunately, it is democracy that Israel has been choosing to gradually but steadily jettison.

    The danger is that Christian Zionists in this country will believe in and advocate the fantasy of a state with all three, thus enabling an undemocratic-Jewish state in reality (by bolstering the flow of American tax dollars and diplomatic cover to Israel). I say ‘will’, but actually this is what has already happened in the last decade. The RNC statement is simply another horrifying step in the progression of this phenomenon. Would that they really were arguing for a one state solution. They are actually providing cover for the apartheid Israeli state that has been developed, by once again ignoring the actual numbers of the Palestinians.

    There are a tremendous number of Americans who labor under the illusion that the Palestinians are a small number of people who are coming over the borders from other countries anyway. This is completely ignorant, but it is who the RNC is speaking to with this statement. I don’t know if the RNC are as ignorant as their intended audience, or completely cynical. Probably it is a mixture of both. But you can be sure that the intended audience has no clue whatsoever as to what the actual population of former Mandate Palestine is today.

  4. I live in the UK and we are stupefied by the ignorance (or is it malign influence?) of the discourse on Israel / Palestine in the US.
    When we read things like ‘God given right’ we just grin even more – though at the same time suppressing a feeling of terror that something worse than Bush may get at the helm.
    Why are Americans so hateful towards Palestinians?
    What have Palestinians ever done to America or to a US citizen?
    Can someone name just one incident of violence committed by a Palestinian towards a US citizen or their interests?
    We need US civil society to stand up to AIPAC and the ridiculous bias in US politics against the Palestinian fight for justice and an end to apartheid occupation.

  5. I recall an edition of 60 minutes in which Steve Croft interviewed PM Ariel Sharon and Rev Jerry Falwell – the premise was that the two were agreeing on the right of Israel to take over the West Bank. I recall the Falwell advocated that the Palestinians ought to abandon the West Bank – there are plenty of Arabs to take them in. To me, it bordered on ethnic cleansing – and I was horrified that I did not hear any objections to the fact that the PM of Israel did not object to Falwell’s remarks. I know that there are those in the Knesset who would like to get rid of the Paldestinians – throw them into the sea – as the Arabs have been accused of wanting to do to the Jews in Israel. I am horrified that there wasn’t a any objection from Rabbis, Jewish Federations, or other Jewish leaderrs.

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