[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 325 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 325

 Expressing the sense of the Senate 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 29, 2004

Mr. Santorum introduced the following resolution; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate 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);
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--
                            (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
                            (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,

SECTION 1. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND REFUGEES.

    It is the sense of the Senate 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.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES POLICY ON MIDDLE EAST REFUGEES.

    The Senate 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.
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