The Young Republican National Federation has adopted a five-point statement of policy for the United States regarding the Middle East which it hopes will be a part of the Republican Party’s platform in the Presidential campaign.
The policy statement will be presented to the Republican platform committee in Miami Beach during the week of Aug. 14. That committee will offer its recommendations to the party convention the following week. The Federation’s five points, which closely approximate the plank adopted by the Democratic Party Convention in Miami Beach two weeks ago, says the following:
“An important goal of American foreign policy is seeing a just and lasting peace achieved in the Middle East. The United States cannot and should not dictate the terms of peace in the area. Observing the sovereignty and territorial rights of all the nations of the Middle East is inherent in the administration’s pursuit of a generation of peace. We specifically recommend: 1. Direct face-to-face Arab-Israeli negotiations; 2. The continued supply of military equipment and aircraft sufficient to maintain a balance of strength in the area; 3. Recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocation of the United States Embassy there; 4. Assistance to both Israel and the Arab states in relocating refugees and encouraging the help of the other nations of the world in this problem; 5. The resumption of diplomatic relations with all Arab nations willing to accept our policy of friendship.”
Regarding Soviet Jewry, the Federation’s recommendation declares in a section titled “humanitarian concerns” that “We believe in the right of all people in all nations to pursue their own religious, political and economic lives.”
Like the Democratic platform, the Young Republicans’ recommendations advocate moving the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Neither the Democrats nor the Young Republicans mentioned UN Security Council Resolution 242 upon which the Nixon administration’s current Middle East policy is based. Unlike the Democrats, the Young Republicans did not include in the Middle East section a recommendation for stationing American forces in Europe and in the Mediterranean to deter as the Democrats say, the Soviet Union from bringing “unbearable pressure on Israel.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
