[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 30 (Friday, February 16, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2180-S2181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

SENATE RESOLUTION 85--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. LAUTENBERG (for himself, Mr. Lott, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Coleman) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
on Foreign Relations:

                               S. Res. 85

       Whereas armed conflicts in the Middle East have created 
     refugee populations numbering in the hundreds of thousands 
     and comprised of peoples from many ethnic, religious, and 
     national backgrounds;
       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;
       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 
     continues to promote a peace that will benefit all the 
     peoples of the region;
       Whereas a comprehensive peace in the Middle East region 
     will require the resolution of all outstanding issues through 
     bilateral and multilateral negotiations involving all 
     concerned parties;
       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 by--
       (1) a statement made by President William J. Clinton in an 
     interview after Camp David II in July 2000, at which the 
     issue of Jewish refugees displaced from Arab lands was 
     discussed, where he said 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.'';
       (2) a statement made by President Carter after negotiating 
     the Camp David Accords, the Framework for Peace in the Middle 
     East, where he 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) section 620 of H.R. 3100, 100th Congress, which 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, with freedom to emigrate if they 
     so choose; and
       (4) Senate Resolution 76, 85th Congress, introduced by 
     Senator William E. Jenner on January 29, 1957, which--
       (A) noted 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, denial or 
     revocation of Egyptian citizenship, expulsions, forced exile, 
     sequestration and confiscation of assets and property, and 
     other punishments without being charged with a crime; and
       (B) requested 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 the objective of 
     obtaining a full factual report concerning the violation of 
     rights;

       Whereas the international definition of a refugee clearly 
     applies to Jews who fled the persecution of Arab regimes, 
     where a refugee is a person who ``owing to a well-founded 
     fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, 
     nationality, membership of a particular social group, or 
     political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, 
     and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to 
     avail himself of the protection of that country'' (Convention 
     relating to the Status of Refugees, done at Geneva July 28, 
     1951, and entered into force April 22, 1954 (189 UNTS 150));
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
     (UNHCR) determined that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were 
     refugees that fell within the mandate of the UNHCR, namely--

[[Page S2181]]

       (1) when in his first statement as newly elected High 
     Commissioner, Mr. Auguste Lindt, at the January 29, 1957, 
     meeting of the United Nations Refugee Fund (UNREF) Executive 
     Committee in Geneva, stated, ``There is already now another 
     emergency problem arising. Refugees from Egypt. And there is 
     no doubt in my mind that those of those refugee who are not 
     able or not willing to avail themselves of the protection of 
     the Government of their nationality, they might have no 
     nationality or they may have lost this nationality, or, for 
     reasons of prosecution may not be willing to avail themselves 
     of this protection, fall under the mandate of the High 
     Commissioner.'' (United Nations High Commissioner for 
     Refugees, Report of the UNREF Executive Committee, Fourth 
     Session-Geneva 29 January to 4 February, 1957); and
       (2) Dr. E. Jahn, on behalf of the United Nations High 
     Commissioner for Refugees, wrote to Daniel Lack, Legal 
     Adviser to the American Joint Distribution Committee, 
     stating, ``I refer to our recent discussion concerning Jews 
     from Middle Eastern and North African countries in 
     consequence of recent events. I am now able to inform you 
     that such persons may be considered prima facie within the 
     mandate of this Office.'' (United Nations High Commissioner 
     for Refugees Document No. 7/2/3/Libya);

       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, such 
     as--
       (1) United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of 
     November 22, 1967, which calls for a ``just settlement of the 
     refugee problem'' without distinction between Palestinian and 
     Jewish refugees, and this is evidenced by--
       (A) a failed attempt by the United Nations delegation of 
     the Soviet Union to restrict the ``just settlement'' 
     mentioned in Resolution 242 solely to Palestinian refugees 
     (S/8236, discussed by the Security Council at its 1382nd 
     meeting on November 22, 1967, notably at paragraph 117, in 
     the words of Ambassador Kouznetsov of the Soviet Union), 
     which signified the international community's intention of 
     having the resolution address the rights of all Middle East 
     refugees; and
       (B) a statement by Justice Arthur Goldberg, the Chief 
     Delegate of the United States to the United Nations at that 
     time, who was instrumental in drafting the unanimously 
     adopted United Nations Resolution 242, where he observed, 
     ``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 President of the United 
     States, George H.W. Bush, and President of the Soviet Union, 
     Mikhail Gorbachev, and included delegations from Spain, the 
     European community, the Netherlands, Egypt, Syria, and 
     Lebanon, as well as a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, 
     where 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''; and
       (3) the Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the 
     Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which refers in Phase III to an 
     ``agreed, just, fair, and realistic solution to the refugee 
     issue'', language that is consistent with United Nations 
     Security Council Resolution 242, which applied equally to 
     Arab and Jewish peoples;

       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--
       (1) the 1978 Camp David Accords, the Framework for Peace in 
     the Middle East, which 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'';
       (2) the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Egypt, signed at 
     Washington March 26, 1979, which provides in Article 8 that 
     the ``Parties agree to establish a claims commission for the 
     mutual settlement of all financial claims'' and makes general 
     references to United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 
     as the basis for comprehensive peace in the region; and
       (3) 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'', refers to ``the massive human 
     problems caused to both Parties by the conflict in the Middle 
     East'';

       Whereas the call to secure rights and redress for Jewish 
     and other minorities who were forced to flee Arab countries 
     is not a campaign against Palestinian refugees;
       Whereas the international community should be aware of the 
     plight of Jews and other minority groups displaced from the 
     Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf;
       Whereas the history and legacy of Jewish refugees from Arab 
     countries must be preserved;
       Whereas no just and comprehensive Middle East peace can be 
     reached without recognition of, and redress for, the 
     uprooting of centuries-old Jewish communities in the Middle 
     East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf; and
       Whereas it would be appropriate and just for the United 
     States, while recognizing rights for Palestinian refugees, to 
     recognize equal rights for former Jewish, Christian, and 
     other refugees from Arab countries: 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 present ongoing 
     violation of the human rights and religious freedoms of 
     minority populations in Arab and Muslim countries throughout 
     the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf; and
       (2) with respect to Jews, Christians, and other populations 
     displaced from countries in the region, for any comprehensive 
     Arab-Israeli peace agreement to be credible, durable, 
     enduring, and constitute an end to conflict in the Middle 
     East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf, the agreement must 
     address and resolve all outstanding issues, including the 
     legitimate rights of all refugees of the Middle East, North 
     Africa, and the Persian Gulf.

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

       The Senate urges the President to--
       (1) instruct the United States Permanent Representative to 
     the United Nations and all representatives of the United 
     States in bilateral and multilateral fora that, when 
     considering or addressing resolutions that allude to the 
     issue of refugees in the Middle East, North Africa, and the 
     Persian Gulf, they should ensure that--
       (A) relevant text refers to the fact that multiple refugee 
     populations have been created 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, 
     Christian, and other refugees from Arab and Muslim countries 
     throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian 
     Gulf region; 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 and Muslim countries throughout 
     the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf must be 
     resolved in a manner that includes--
       (A) consideration of the legitimate rights of all refugees 
     displaced from Arab and Muslim countries throughout the 
     Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf; and
       (B) recognition of the losses incurred by Jews, Christians, 
     and other minority groups as a result of the Arab-Israeli 
     conflict.

                          ____________________