Republicans nix reference to Palestinians in convention platform

Middle East advisers to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, have in recent days questioned the wisdom and viability of the two-state solution.

By MICHAEL WILNER
Updated: JULY 12, 2016 23:36
Donald Trump (photo credit: REUTERS)
Donald Trump
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON – Drafters of the Republican Party Platform have removed any reference to the Palestinians and to the party’s historic support for a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict.
The 2016 platform’s national security subcommittee voted Tuesday to drop the language, after insertions in 2012 recognized the Palestinian people and endorsed an end to their conflict with Israel that would result in “two democratic states.”
“The US seeks to assist in the establishment of comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, to be negotiated among those living in the region,” the new 2016 language reads. “We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms, and call for the immediate termination of all US funding of any entity that attempts to do so.”
Democratic and Republican presidential administrations alike have endorsed the twostate solution as the only viable end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But Middle East advisers to Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in recent days have questioned the wisdom and viability of the effort.
“I’m not saying, one way or the other, that a ‘one state solution’ is the correct path,” David Friedman, one of Trump’s Israel advisers, wrote last week. “That is a decision for the Israeli people to make in consultation with the Palestinians. But it is simply not true that Jews will become a minority in their own land if a two-state solution is not implemented.”