[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 41 (Monday, March 29, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3298-S3299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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SENATE RESOLUTION 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

  Mr. SANTORUM submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 325

       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--

[[Page S3299]]

       (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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