[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1231 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1231

        Recognizing the Nakba and Palestinian refugees' rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 15, 2024

 Ms. Tlaib (for herself, Ms. Omar, Ms. Bush, and Mr. Carson) submitted 
   the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
        Recognizing the Nakba and Palestinian refugees' rights.

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly recommended on November 29, 1947, to 
        partition Palestine into two states against the wishes of Palestine's 
        majority indigenous inhabitants;
Whereas this partition plan nevertheless provided for the ``Full protection for 
        the rights and interests of minorities, including the protection of the 
        linguistic, religious and ethnic rights of the peoples and respect for 
        their cultures, and full equality of all citizens with regard to 
        political, civil and religious matters'';
Whereas before the State of Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, 
        there were already between 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinian refugees who 
        were expelled or fled from their homes often after attacks by Zionist 
        militias on major Palestinian cities and villages;
Whereas by the time the war ended with the signing of armistice agreements 
        between Israel and neighboring Arab countries in 1949, establishing 
        Israel's sovereignty over 78 percent of Palestine, and, in the process, 
        conquering an additional 23 percent of Palestine beyond those areas 
        allocated to the Jewish state under the partition plan, there were at 
        least 750,000 Palestinian refugees (roughly 75 percent of the indigenous 
        population that had lived in areas that became Israel);
Whereas, by 1949, Israel had depopulated more than 400 Palestinian villages and 
        cities, often demolishing all structures and planting forests over them;
Whereas Palestinians refer to this experience of uprooting, dispossession, and 
        refugeedom as the Nakba (meaning ``catastrophe'' in English);
Whereas the United States knew of the scale and magnitude of the Palestine 
        refugee crisis as it unfolded, as is documented in an October 1948 
        telegram to the President and Secretary of State from the Embassy of the 
        United States to Israel, warning that the ``Arab Refugee tragedy is 
        rapidly reaching catastrophic proportions and should be treated as a 
        disaster'';
Whereas the United States voted in favor of United Nations General Assembly 
        Resolution 194 on December 11, 1948, which states that Palestinian 
        ``refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their 
        neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, 
        and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing 
        not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under 
        principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the 
        governments or authorities responsible'';
Whereas Palestinian refugees' right of return is not only stipulated in a 
        General Assembly resolution, but is also anchored in international law 
        and in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which 
        states: ``Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his 
        own, and to return to his country'';
Whereas, on December 8, 1949, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 
        Resolution 302 establishing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency 
        for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which the United States has 
        financially supported on an almost continuous basis since its 
        establishment;
Whereas of the more than 7,000,000 Palestinian refugees, the United Nations 
        Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East provides 
        much-needed social services to 5,700,000 Palestine refugees today;
Whereas international law also recognizes that descendants of refugees retain 
        their rights as refugees, and that according to the United Nations, 
        ``Palestine refugees are not distinct from other protracted refugee 
        situations such as those from Afghanistan or Somalia, where there are 
        multiple generations of refugees, considered by UNHCR as refugees and 
        supported as such. Protracted refugee situations are the result of the 
        failure to find political solutions to their underlying political 
        crises'';
Whereas the Nakba refers not only to a historical event but to an ongoing 
        process of Israel's expropriation of Palestinian land and its 
        dispossession of the Palestinian people that continues to this day;
Whereas the apartheid government of Israel is committing a genocide against the 
        Palestinian people which, as of May 14, 2024, has killed at least 35,000 
        people, including more than 14,500 children, wounded more than 79,000, 
        with 10,000 additional people still missing, displaced over 1,700,000 
        Palestinians, and created a state of famine across Gaza;
Whereas the establishment and expansion of hundreds of illegal settlements and 
        outposts in the occupied Palestinian West Bank in which approximately 
        674,000 Israelis reside as of 2020 is another form of ethnic cleaning 
        used to perpetuate the Nakba; and
Whereas a just and lasting resolution requires respect for and the 
        implementation of Palestine refugee rights as enshrined in United 
        Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of 
        Human Rights: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
it is the policy of the United States to--
            (1) commemorate the Nakba through official recognition and 
        remembrance;
            (2) denounce the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people;
            (3) reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise 
        associate the United States Government with denial of the 
        Nakba;
            (4) encourage education and public understanding of the 
        facts of the Nakba, including the United States role in the 
        humanitarian relief effort, and the relevance of the Nakba to 
        modern-day refugee crises;
            (5) support the resumed provision of social service to 
        Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and 
        Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East;
            (6) support the implementation of Palestinian refugees' 
        rights as enshrined in United Nations General Assembly 
        Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
            (7) recognize that Palestinians are a unique people who are 
        every bit as human as everyone else; and
            (8) reject bigoted efforts to question, dismiss, or 
        otherwise deny the existence of Palestinians and their 
        humanity.
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