As the Republican party convention kicked off on Monday in Cleveland, a subcommittee of the GOP has overwhelmingly adopted a new national stronger pro-Israel platform.

The committee voted 14-2 in favor of the so-called Clemmons Amendment that made an end to long-standing GOP policy toward Israel and the conflict with the Palestinians.

Alan Clemmons is a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina.

The platform rejects the automatic implementation of the so-called two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and removed the label of “occupier” from Israel for returning to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). The amendment puts the GOP squarely behind an undivided Jerusalem and speaks out against any form of Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Jewish state.

The draft text of the new platform was the work of the Iron Dome Alliance and several other groups, as well as presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s Middle East advisers, David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt.

Clemmons said that over the last decade, public polling ‘’proved the GOP base overwhelmingly stands with Israel but that the old platform didn’t reflect this.’’

He called the “false notion that Israel is an occupier an anti-Semitic attack on Israel’s legitimacy.”

“It is impossible for the Jew to be an occupier in his own ancestral homeland, a region that has been known as Judea (and Samaria) since time immemorial,” he declared.

“The platform places our support squarely behind Israel’s right to decide her own future with God’s help. It does not foreclose any possible solution to the conflict Israel faces, including the Two-State proposal. Instead it affirms that we will be here to support our greatest ally in solving her challenges as she sees fit in her own superior judgment.’’

“The U.S. 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 Republican platform states.

“We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms, and call for the immediate termination of all U.S. funding of any entity that attempts to do so. Our party is proud to stand with Israel now and always.”

“This is an amazing victory,” said Jeff Ballabon, head of the Iron Dome Coalition Super PAC, which had advocated fiercely for dropping mention of the two-state solution from the plank.

He rejected the argument that the new platform will undermine efforts to bring peace to the region, saying there is “zero impediment” in the new plank to moving forward to a two-state solution if Israel decides to take that path.

Greenblatt is the chief legal officer of the Trump Organization; Friedman is a bankruptcy lawyer. Friedman is a strong supporter of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and heads an American fundraising operation for a settlement.

The previous Republican platform, adopted in 2012, supported a two-state solution, stating that Republicans “envision two democratic states — Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine — living in peace and security.”

Support for establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel has been a cornerstone of American policy in the Middle East supported by both Democratic and Republican administrations.

AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the largest pro-Israel organization in the US, hailed the platform’s strong pro-Israel stand.