[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 838 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 838

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
 creation of refugee populations in the Middle East, North Africa, and 
    the Persian Gulf region as a result of human rights violations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 7, 2004

    Mr. Nadler (for himself and Mr. Lantos) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
 creation of refugee populations in the Middle East, North Africa, and 
    the Persian Gulf region as a result of human rights violations.

Whereas Jews and other ethnic groups have lived mostly as minorities in the 
        Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf region for more than 
        2,500 years, more than 1,000 years before the advent of Islam;
Whereas the United States has long voiced its concern about the mistreatment of 
        minorities and the violation of human rights in the Middle East and 
        elsewhere;
Whereas the United States continues to play a pivotal role in seeking an end to 
        conflict in the Middle East and to promoting a peace that will benefit 
        all the people of the region;
Whereas a comprehensive peace in the region will require the resolution of all 
        outstanding issues through bilateral and multilateral negotiations 
        involving all concerned parties;
Whereas the discussion of refugees in the Middle East generally centers on 
        Palestinian refugees, even though estimates indicate that, as a result 
        of the 1948 war in which numerous Arab armies attacked the newly-founded 
        State of Israel, more Jews (approximately 850,000) were displaced from 
        Arab countries than were Palestinians (approximately 726,000) from 
        Israel;
Whereas the United States has demonstrated interest and concern about the 
        mistreatment, violation of rights, forced expulsion, and expropriation 
        of assets of minority populations in general, and in particular, former 
        Jewish refugees displaced from Arab countries, as evidenced, inter alia, 
        by the following actions:

    (1) A Memorandum of Understanding signed by President Jimmy Carter and 
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan on October 4, 1977, states that ``[a] 
solution of the problem of Arab refugees and Jewish refugees will be 
discussed in accordance with rules which should be agreed''.

    (2) After negotiating the Camp David Accords, the Framework for Peace 
in the Middle East, President Jimmy Carter stated in a press conference on 
October 27, 1977 that ``Palestinians have rights . . . obviously there are 
Jewish refugees . . . they have the same rights as others do''.

    (3) In an interview with Israeli television immediately after the issue 
of the rights of Jews displaced from Arab lands was discussed at Camp David 
II in July 2000, President Clinton stated clearly that ``[t]here will have 
to be some sort of international fund set up for the refugees. There is, I 
think, some interest, interestingly enough, on both sides, in also having a 
fund which compensates the Israelis who were made refugees by the war, 
which occurred after the birth of the State of Israel. Israel is full of 
people, Jewish people, who lived in predominantly Arab countries who came 
to Israel because they were made refugees in their own land.''.

    (4) In Senate Resolution 76, 85th Congress, agreed to January 29, 1957, 
the Senate--

    G    (A) notes that individuals in Egypt who are tied by race, 
religion, or national origin with Israel, France, or the United Kingdom 
have been subjected to arrest, forced exile, confiscation of property, and 
other punishments although not charged with any crime; and

    G    (B) requests the President to instruct the chief delegate to the 
United Nations to urge the prompt dispatch of a United Nations observer 
team to Egypt with a view to obtain a full factual report concerning this 
violation of rights.

    (5) In House Concurrent Resolution 158, 85th Congress, Congress notes 
that the Government of Egypt had initiated a series of measures against the 
Jewish community, that many Jews were arrested as a result of such 
measures, that, beginning in November 1956, many Jews were expelled from 
Egypt, and that the Jews of Egypt faced sequestration of their goods and 
assets and denial or revocation of Egyptian citizenship, and resolves that 
the treatment of Jews in Egypt constituted ``persecution on account of 
race, religious beliefs, or political opinions'', further resolving that 
these issues should be raised by the United States either in the United 
Nations or by other appropriate means.

    (6) Section 620 of H.R. 3100, 100th Congress, states that Congress 
finds that ``with the notable exceptions of Morocco and Tunisia, those Jews 
remaining in Arab countries continue to suffer deprivations, degradations, 
and hardships, and continue to live in peril'' and that Congress calls upon 
the governments of those Arab countries where Jews still maintain a 
presence to guarantee their Jewish citizens full civil and human rights, 
including the right to lead full Jewish lives free of fear and to emigrate 
if they so choose;

Whereas the seminal United Nations resolution on the Arab-Israeli conflict and 
        other international initiatives refer generally to the plight of 
        ``refugees'' and do not make any distinction between Palestinian and 
        Jewish refugees, including the following:

    (1) United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of November 22, 
1967, calls for a ``just settlement of the refugee problem'' without 
distinction between Palestinian and Jewish refugees. Justice Arthur 
Goldberg, the United States delegate to the United Nations at that time, 
has pointed out that ``a notable omission in 242 is any reference to 
Palestinians, a Palestinian state on the West Bank or the PLO. The 
resolution addresses the objective of `achieving a just settlement of the 
refugee problem.' This language presumably refers both to Arab and Jewish 
refugees, for about an equal number of each abandoned their homes as a 
result of the several wars''.

    (2) The Madrid Conference, which was first convened in October 1991 and 
was co-chaired by United States President George H.W. Bush and President of 
the U.S.S.R. Mikhail Gorbachev, included delegations from Spain, the 
European Community, the Netherlands, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as 
a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. In his opening remarks before the 
January 28, 1992, organizational meeting for multilateral negotiations on 
the Middle East in Moscow, United States Secretary of State James Baker 
made no distinction between Palestinian refugees and Jewish refugees in 
articulating the mission of the Refugee Working Group, stating that ``[t]he 
refugee group will consider practical ways of improving the lot of people 
throughout the region who have been displaced from their homes''.

    (3) The Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-
Palestinian Conflict, in referring to an ``agreed, just, fair, and 
realistic solution to the refugee issue,'' uses language that is equally 
applicable to all persons displaced as a result of the conflict in the 
Middle East;

Whereas Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians have affirmed that a comprehensive 
        solution to the Middle East conflict will require a just solution to the 
        plight of all ``refugees'' as evidenced by the following:

    (1) The 1978 Camp David Accords, the Framework for Peace in the Middle 
East, includes a commitment by Egypt and Israel to ``work with each other 
and with other interested parties to establish agreed procedures for a 
prompt, just and permanent resolution of the implementation of the refugee 
problem.'' The Treaty of Peace between Israel and Egypt, signed at 
Washington, D.C. March 26, 1979, in addition to general references to 
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 as the basis for 
comprehensive peace in the region, provides in Article 8 that the ``Parties 
agree to establish a claims commission for the mutual settlement of all 
financial claims,'' including those of former Christian and Jewish refugees 
displaced from Egypt.

    (2) Article 8 of the Treaty of Peace Between the State of Israel and 
the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, done at Arava/Araba Crossing Point October 
26, 1994, entitled ``Refugees and Displaced Persons'' recognizes ``the 
massive human problems caused to both Parties by the conflict in the Middle 
East.'' The reference to massive human problems in a broad manner suggests 
that the plight of all refugees of ``the conflict in the Middle East'' 
includes Jewish refugees from Arab countries;

Whereas the United States is encouraged by recent statements by Libyan leader 
        Muammar Qadhafi that he is ready to compensate Libyan Jews whose 
        properties were confiscated and that he is prepared to allow Libyans to 
        travel to Israel;
Whereas the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional 
        Period, signed at Baghdad March 8, 2004, is a landmark document that 
        enshrines the ``right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religious 
        belief and practice'' that had long been denied to Iraqis and states 
        that ``the Transitional Government shall take steps to end the vestiges 
        of the oppressive acts arising from,'' among other things, ``forced 
        displacement, deprivation of citizenship, [and] expropriation of 
        financial assets and property''; and
Whereas, while progress is being made, continued emphasis needs to be placed on 
        the rights and redress for Jewish refugees: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, 

   sense of the house of representatives on human rights and refugees

    Section 1. It is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) the United States deplores the past and continuing 
        violation of the human rights and religious freedoms of 
        minority populations in Arab countries;
            (2) with respect to Jews and Christians displaced from Arab 
        countries, for any comprehensive Middle East peace agreement to 
        be credible, durable, and enduring, constitute an end to 
        conflict in the Middle East, and provide for finality of all 
        claims, the agreement must address and resolve all outstanding 
        issues, including the legitimate rights of all peoples 
        displaced from Arab countries; and
            (3) the United States will work to ensure that the 
        provisions of both the Law of Administration for the State of 
        Iraq for the Transitional Period, signed at Baghdad March 8, 
        2004, and the permanent constitution to be presented to the 
        people of Iraq for approval in a general referendum no later 
        than October 15, 2005--
                    (A) are universally applied to all groups forced to 
                leave Iraq; and
                    (B) will rectify the historical injustices and 
                discriminatory measures perpetrated by previous Iraqi 
                regimes.

              united states policy on middle east refugees

    Sec. 2. The House of Representatives urges the President to--
            (1) instruct the United States Representative to the United 
        Nations and all United States representatives in bilateral and 
        multilateral fora that, when the United States considers or 
        addresses resolutions that allude to the issue of Middle East 
        refugees, the United States delegation should ensure that--
                    (A) the relevant text refers to the fact that 
                multiple refugee populations have been caused by the 
                Arab-Israeli conflict; and
                    (B) any explicit reference to the required 
                resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue is matched 
                by a similar explicit reference to the resolution of 
                the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries; and
            (2) make clear that the United States Government supports 
        the position that, as an integral part of any comprehensive 
        peace, the issue of refugees and the mass violations of human 
        rights of minorities in Arab countries must be resolved in a 
        manner that includes--
                    (A) redress for the legitimate rights of all 
                refugees displaced from Arab countries; and
                    (B) recognition of the fact that Jewish and 
                Christian property, schools, and community property was 
                lost as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
                                 <all>