[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S4776]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRATULATING THE REUNIFICATION OF JERUSALEM

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar No. 51, Senate 
Concurrent Resolution 21.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 21) congratulating 
     the residents of Jerusalem and the people of Israel on the 
     thirtieth anniversary of the reunification of that historic 
     city, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the concurrent resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
concurrent resolution.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to 
the resolution be placed at the appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 21) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, is as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 21

       Whereas for 3,000 years Jerusalem has been Judaism's 
     holiest city and the focal point of Jewish religious 
     devotion;
       Whereas Jerusalem is also considered a holy city by members 
     of other religious faiths;
       Whereas there has been a continuous Jewish presence in 
     Jerusalem for three millennia and a Jewish majority in the 
     city since the 1840s;
       Whereas the once thriving Jewish majority of the historic 
     Old City of Jerusalem was driven out by force during the 1948 
     Arab-Israeli War;
       Whereas from 1948 to 1967 Jerusalem was a divided city and 
     Israeli citizens of all faiths as well as Jewish citizens of 
     all states were denied access to holy sites in the area 
     controlled by Jordan;
       Whereas in 1967 Jerusalem was reunited by Israel during the 
     conflict known as the Six Day War;
       Whereas since 1967 Jerusalem has been a united city, and 
     persons of all religious faiths have been guaranteed full 
     access to holy sites within the city;
       Whereas this year marks the thirtieth year that Jerusalem 
     has been administered as a unified city in which the rights 
     of all faiths have been respected and protected;
       Whereas in 1990 the United States Senate and House of 
     Representatives overwhelmingly adopted Senate Concurrent 
     Resolution 106 and House Concurrent Resolution 290 declaring 
     that Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, ``must remain an 
     undivided city'' and calling on Israel and the Palestinians 
     to undertake negotiations to resolve their differences;
       Whereas Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel later cited 
     Senate concurrent Resolution 106 as having ``helped our 
     neighbors reach the negotiating table'' to produce the 
     historic Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government 
     Arrangements, signed in Washington on September 13, 1993; and
       Whereas the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-
     45) which became law on November 8, 1995, states as a matter 
     of United States policy that Jerusalem should remain the 
     undivided capital of Israel: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That the Congress--
       (1) congratulates the residents of Jerusalem and the people 
     of Israel on the thirtieth anniversary of the reunification 
     of that historic city;
       (2) strongly believes that Jerusalem must remain an 
     undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and 
     religious group are protected as they have been by Israel 
     during the past 30 years;
       (3) calls upon the President and Secretary of State to 
     publicly affirm as a matter of United States policy that 
     Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the state of 
     Israel; and
       (4) urges United States officials to refrain from any 
     actions that contradict United States law on this subject.

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