[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 188 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

  2d Session
S. RES. 188

 Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Israeli membership in a 
                     United Nations regional group.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 3, 1998

  Mr. Moynihan (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
 Torricelli, Mr. Hollings, Mr. Robb, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Akaka, 
 Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Allard, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Graham, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
 Wyden, Mr. Faircloth, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Mack, Ms. Mikulski, 
    Mr. Craig, Mr. Burns, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. 
Rockefeller, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Reid, 
  Mr. Coverdell, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Gramm, Mr. Kempthorne, Mr. Helms, Mr. 
    Baucus, Ms. Collins, Mr. Coats, Mr. Grams, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. 
Sarbanes, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Smith of New Hampshire, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Glenn, 
   Ms. Moseley-Braun, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Wellstone, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. 
Specter, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Sessions, 
    and Mr. Feingold) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                              May 19, 1998

                Reported by Mr. Helms, without amendment

                              May 22, 1998

                        Considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate regarding Israeli membership in a 
                     United Nations regional group.

Whereas, of the 185 member states of the United Nations, only the State of 
        Israel is ineligible to sit on the Security Council, the Economic and 
        Social Council, or any other United Nations committee;
Whereas the State of Israel was created in response to a 1947 General Assembly 
        resolution and joined the United Nations in 1949;
Whereas the members of the United Nations have organized themselves according to 
        regional groups since 1946;
Whereas eligibility for election to the rotating seats of the Security Council, 
        or other United Nations councils, commissions, or committees, is only 
        available to countries belonging to a regional group;
Whereas Israel has remained a member of the United Nations despite being 
        subjected to deliberate attacks which aimed to place the legitimacy of 
        the State of Israel in question;
Whereas this anachronistic Cold War isolation of Israel at the United Nations 
        continues;
Whereas barring a member of the United Nations from entering a regional group is 
        inimical to the principles under which the United Nations was founded, 
        namely, ``to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect 
        for the principle of equal rights . . .''; and
Whereas Israel is a vibrant democracy, which shares the values, goals, and 
        interests of the ``Western European and Others Group'', a regional group 
        which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) it should be the policy of the United States to support 
        the State of Israel's efforts to enter an appropriate United 
        Nations regional group;
            (2) the President should instruct the Permanent 
        Representative of the United States to the United Nations to 
        carry out this policy;
            (3) the United States should--
                    (A) insist that any efforts to reform the United 
                Nations, including the Security Council, also resolve 
                this anomaly; and
                    (B) ensure that the principle of sovereign equality 
                be upheld without exception; and
            (4) the Secretary of State should submit a report to 
        Congress on the steps taken by the United States, the Secretary 
        General of the United Nations, and others to help secure 
        Israel's membership in an appropriate United Nations regional 
        group.
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