[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4649-4653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING CREATION OF REFUGEE POPULATIONS

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 185) expressing the sense of the House of 
Representatives regarding the creation of refugee populations in the 
Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf region as a result of 
human rights violations, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 185

       Whereas armed conflicts in the Middle East have created 
     refugee populations numbering in the millions and comprised 
     of peoples from many ethnic, religious, and national 
     backgrounds;
       Whereas Jews have lived mostly as a minority 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 the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle 
     East and to promoting a peace that will benefit all the 
     peoples of the region;
       Whereas United States administrations historically have 
     called for a just solution to the Palestinian refugee 
     problem;
       Whereas the Palestinian refugee issue has received 
     considerable attention from countries of the world while the 
     issue of Jewish refugees from the Arab and Muslim worlds has 
     received very little attention;
       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 approximately 850,000 Jews have been displaced from 
     Arab countries since the declaration of the State of Israel 
     in 1948;
       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--
       (1) the Memorandum of Understanding signed by President 
     Jimmy Carter and

[[Page 4650]]

     Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan on October 4, 1977, 
     which 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, the statement by President 
     Jimmy Carter 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''; and
       (3) in an interview after Camp David II in July 2000, at 
     which the issue of Jewish refugees displaced from Arab lands 
     was discussed, the statement by President Clinton that 
     ``There 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.'';
       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'' (the 1951 
     Convention relating to the Status of Refugees);
       Whereas on January 29, 1957, 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;
       Whereas 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, and this is evidenced by--
       (1) the Soviet Union's United Nations delegation attempt to 
     restrict the ``just settlement'' mentioned in Resolution 242 
     solely to Palestinian refugees (S/8236, discussed by the 
     Security Council at its 1382nd meeting of November 22, 1967, 
     notably at paragraph 117, in the words of Ambassador 
     Kouznetsov of the Soviet Union), but this attempt failed, 
     signifying the international community's intention of having 
     the resolution address the rights of all Middle East 
     refugees; and
       (2) a statement by Justice Arthur Goldberg, the United 
     States' Chief Delegate to the United Nations at that time, 
     who was instrumental in drafting the unanimously adopted 
     Resolution 242, where he has pointed out that ``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.'';
       Whereas 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'';
       Whereas 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,'' uses language that is equally applicable to 
     all persons displaced as a result of the conflict in the 
     Middle East;
       Whereas Israel's agreements with Egypt, Jordan, and the 
     Palestinians have affirmed that a comprehensive solution to 
     the Arab-Israeli conflict will require a just solution to the 
     plight of all ``refugees'';
       Whereas the initiative to secure rights and redress for 
     Jews who were forced to flee Arab countries does not conflict 
     with the right of Palestinian refugees to claim redress;
       Whereas all countries should be aware of the plight of Jews 
     and other minority groups displaced from countries in the 
     Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf;
       Whereas an international campaign is proceeding in some 40 
     countries to record the history and legacy of Jewish refugees 
     from Arab countries;
       Whereas a just, comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace cannot be 
     reached without addressing the uprooting of centuries-old 
     Jewish communities in the Middle East, North Africa, and the 
     Persian Gulf; and
       Whereas it would be inappropriate and unjust for the United 
     States to recognize rights for Palestinian refugees without 
     recognizing equal rights for Jewish refugees from Arab 
     countries: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) for any comprehensive Middle East peace agreement to be 
     credible and enduring, the agreement must address and resolve 
     all outstanding issues relating to the legitimate rights of 
     all refugees, including Jews, Christians, and other 
     populations, displaced from countries in the Middle East; and
       (2) the President should instruct the United States 
     Representative to the United Nations and all United States 
     representatives in bilateral and multilateral fora to--
       (A) use the voice, vote, and influence of the United States 
     to ensure that any resolutions relating to the issue of 
     Middle East refugees, and which include a reference to the 
     required resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue, must 
     also include a similarly explicit reference to the resolution 
     of the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries; and
       (B) make clear that the United States Government supports 
     the position that, as an integral part of any comprehensive 
     Arab-Israeli peace, the issue of refugees from the Middle 
     East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf must be resolved in 
     a manner that includes recognition of the legitimate rights 
     of and losses incurred by all refugees displaced from Arab 
     countries, including Jews, Christians, and other groups.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Berman) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I would first like to commend my distinguished 
colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler), for introducing 
this important resolution.
  When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, more than 150,000 Jews 
lived in Iraq. Iraq was truly a cradle of Jewish civilization, a site 
of Jewish learning from which one of Judaism's holiest books, the 
Talmud, emerged. For more than two millennia, as history books will 
attest, Jews also made vital contributions to wider Iraqi society.
  Indeed, like Jews throughout the Arab world, Iraqi Jews for most of 
that long era enjoyed a quality of life far better than that of most 
Jewish communities in Europe.
  That all changed for good in 1948, and in the years immediately 
preceding 1948, when the state of Israel declared its independence. 
Throughout the Arab world, Jews then became the objects of official 
scorn and often were fired from their jobs en masse. In many places, 
violence ensued against Jewish communities. Continuing to use Iraq as 
an example, that 150,000-strong community by 1952 had shrunk to a mere 
30,000. The rest, the other 120,000, had effectively been forced out.
  Overall, approximately 850,000 Jewish residents of the Arab world 
were expelled or otherwise forced to leave their homes, abandoning 
possessions and patrimony, in the years following Israel's creation in 
1948. Vibrant, generations-old communities withered to near-negligible 
numbers.
  That Iraqi community of 150,000 Jews in 1948 has dwindled to about 
ten today. In Egypt, a community of 75,000 in 1945 now numbers 50 to 
100. In Aden, Yemen, a community of 63,000 in 1948 has shrunk to about 
200 today. And 140,000 Jews lived in Tunisia in 1948; fewer than 100 
remain. In Morocco, which is hailed today as the bastion of Jewish-Arab 
coexistence in the Arab world, a thriving community of more than a 
quarter million Jews lived their lives in peace before 1948. Today, 
there are perhaps 5,000 Jews residing in Morocco. Some left willingly; 
most felt they had no choice.
  For centuries, long before the advent of Islam and long after it, 
Jewish communities lived peacefully and often prosperously and 
productively in Arab lands, among Arab people.
  Their forced relocation and the material value they lost when they 
were compelled to abandon their homes and other property in Arab 
countries has never been redressed. Not one Jew from the Arab world has 
been compensated for his losses. Each one had to start over from 
scratch in his new land.

[[Page 4651]]

  Compare the Jewish refugee experience with the Palestinian refugee 
experience. Neither Jewish refugees themselves, nor Israel, which was 
an underdeveloped country at the time it hosted most of these refugees, 
sought international aid from United Nations organizations or other 
international organizations. Both refugees and hosts envisioned and 
sought full integration into the larger society. The Arab world, in 
contrast, demanded the international community foot the bill for the 
refugees, who were to be kept in camps that, to this day, breed 
frustration, hatred and dependence.
  The result of these contrasting approaches is this: While the plight 
of Palestinian refugees is well known throughout the world, has been 
the subject of numerous U.N. resolutions, and has been a major element 
in every Arab-Israeli peace plan, the plight of Jewish refugees is 
rarely mentioned.
  Nevertheless, the rights and redress of Jewish refugees deserve 
recognition in any peace settlement. And, indeed, numerous 
international agreements pertaining to the Arab-Israeli conflict have 
been codified with the rights of Jewish refugees in mind.
  U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 calls for a ``just settlement to 
the refugee problem,'' without limiting that problem to Palestinians. 
Presidents Carter and Clinton each explicitly stated that the issue of 
Jewish refugees must be part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace 
agreement.

                              {time}  1300

  And lest there be any doubt about their status, let me point out this 
very important fact: The United Nations High Commission on Refugees in 
1957 mandated that Jewish people who fled Arab countries are, indeed, 
``refugees.''
  The right of Jewish refugees from Middle Eastern lands to seek 
redress does not in any way conflict with the right of Palestinian 
refugees to seek redress, and the resolution before us states this 
explicitly. This resolution merely expresses the sense of Congress that 
Jewish refugees also should not be denied their legitimate rights.
  We are simply seeking to ensure that any comprehensive Middle East 
settlement is just and fully just to all the parties. That sentiment of 
basic fairness is one I fully embrace.
  I strongly support this resolution. And I again congratulate my 
colleague, Mr. Nadler, for offering it.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 185 
regarding the creation of refugee populations in the Middle East, north 
Africa, and the Persian Gulf region resulting from human rights 
violations.
  Discussions of Middle Eastern refugees invariably focus exclusively 
and short-sightedly on the plight of those of Palestinian descent. Few 
are aware of the injustices faced by hundreds of thousands of Jews, 
Christians and others who fled from Arab lands and Iran either as a 
direct result of the Arab-Israeli conflict or from persecution 
associated with that conflict.
  Perhaps the most telling example, Madam Speaker, is the case of the 
Jewish refugees from Arab lands. Many Jews saw their communities, which 
had existed vibrantly for centuries even before the advent of Islam, 
systematically dismantled. Their populations throughout the Arab world 
and Iran was reduced from over 1 million to just several thousand. They 
lost their resources, their homes, and their heritage sites fleeing in 
the face of persecution, pogroms and brutal dictatorships.
  Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries and Iran left behind what 
today amounts to billions of dollars in assets. Not only have they 
received not one thin dime of compensation to this day, but their 
plight has not even received recognition by the United Nations nor 
similar international institutions.
  While countless U.N. resolutions have been adopted focusing on the 
Palestinian refugee issue, no conferences have been held on the Jewish 
refugees. No U.N. agencies nor international human rights organizations 
address their fate. Failure to recognize their plight, Madam Speaker, 
along with the plight of the Christian communities throughout the 
region, only serves to perpetuate their suffering. Therefore, in past 
Congresses, I have sponsored resolutions similar to the one before us 
today, House Resolution 185. This resolution urges greater recognition 
of the plight of these often overlooked refugees, it emphasizes that 
any comprehensive Middle East peace agreement can only be credible, can 
only be enduring if it resolves all issues related to the rights of all 
refugees in the Arab world and Iran, including Jews, Christians and 
others.
  I am proud to be the lead Republican cosponsor of this resolution. 
And I thank my good friend and my colleague from New York, Congressman 
Jerry Nadler, for having the insight to introduce it.
  I urge the House to adopt this very important resolution.
  And with that, Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the sponsor of the 
resolution, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler).
  Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution which I 
introduced, along with Representatives Ros-Lehtinen, Crowley and 
Ferguson. I am proud to stand alongside of them, as well as Chairman 
Berman and Representative Ackerman, who have been strong leaders on the 
issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands, in this historic moment of 
recognition of these refugees.
  I would also like to take a moment to commend the leadership of our 
late chairman, Tom Lantos, whose leadership on this issue and on all 
human rights issues has been critical to opening this debate and to 
recognizing the rights of refugees throughout the world.
  This resolution is not just about a forgotten chapter of history. For 
centuries, long before the advent of Islam and long after it, Jewish 
communities lived peacefully and often prosperously and productively in 
Arab lands among Arab people. Their forced relocation and the material 
value they lost when they were compelled to abandon their homes and 
other properties in Arab countries has never been redressed. For 
example, in Iraq, a community of 150,000 in 1948 dwindles to around 10 
today. In Egypt, a community of 75,000 in 1945 became between 50 and 
100 today. In Yemen and Aden, 63,000 in 1948 became 200 in 2003. 
140,000 Jews lived in Tunisia in 1948, less than 100 remained in 2004.
  In Morocco, which is hailed today as a bastion of Jewish-Arab 
coexistence in the Arab world, a thriving community of more than a 
quarter million Jews lived their lives in peace by 1948; by 2003, only 
5,500 remained. Some left willingly, most did not.
  While the plight of Palestinian refugees is well known throughout the 
world and has been a major element in every Arab-Israeli peace plan and 
negotiation, the plight of these Jewish refugees is rarely mentioned 
these days. Nevertheless, numerous international agreements pertaining 
to the Arab-Israeli conflict have been codified with the rights of the 
Jewish refugees in mind. U.N. Security Council resolution 242, passed 
on November 22, 1967, after the Six Day War, calls for a just 
settlement to the refugee problem without limiting that problem to 
Palestinians. In fact, the Soviet Union tried to limit that resolution 
to Palestinians and it was rejected.
  Presidents Carter and Clinton stated explicitly that the issue of 
Jewish refugees must be a part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace 
agreement. And lest there be any doubt about this status, the U.N. High 
Commission on Refugees in 1957 ruled that Jewish people that fled Arab 
countries were, indeed, ``refugees.''
  This principle is reaffirmed in the Camp David Accords and in the 
Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. The treaty states, ``The parties agree 
to establish a Claims Committee for the mutual settlement of all 
financial claims.'' And it also states, ``Jewish refugees have the same 
rights as others do.''

[[Page 4652]]

  These Jewish refugees, Madam Speaker, were expelled systematically 
under official regime policies, which included state-fostered anti-
Jewish decrees, pogroms, murders and hangings, anti-Semitic incitement 
and ethnic cleansing. They were done in accordance with an Arab League 
1947 decree that provided a formula to promote state-sanctioned 
discriminatory measures that were replicated in many Arab countries in 
a deliberate campaign to expel the entire Jewish population from their 
home countries. And unlike the Palestinians, the Jewish refugees, 
having been expelled from the Arab countries, were absorbed into their 
host countries, mostly by Israel. About 600,000 refugees went to 
Israel, and the remaining 300,000 fled to other countries, such as 
France, Canada, Italy and the United States. In Israel today, the 
majority of the population consists of Jews from Arab countries and 
their children and grandchildren.
  The right of Jewish refugees from Middle Eastern lands to seek 
redress does not in any way conflict with the rights of Palestinian 
refugees to seek redress, and resolution states this explicitly. This 
resolution merely expresses the sense of Congress that Jewish refugees, 
many of whom were so effectively absorbed by the State of Israel, 
should not be denied their legitimate rights and compensation for the 
property of which they were deprived.
  The resolution further states that a comprehensive Middle East peace 
agreement can be credible and enduring only if it achieves legitimate 
rights of all refugees, ``including Jews, Christians and other 
populations'' displaced from Middle East countries. Importantly, it 
also resolves that the President should instruct the U.S. 
Representative at the U.N. and all U.S. representatives in bilateral 
and multilateral fora to use their voice, their vote and the influence 
of the United States to ensure that any resolutions relating to the 
issue of Middle East refugees which include a reference to the required 
resolution of the Palestinian refugee issue must also include a 
similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish 
refugees from Arab countries, and to make clear that the United States 
Government supports the position that as an integral part of any 
comprehensive and much to be desired Arab-Israeli peace, the issue of 
refugees from the Middle East, north Africa and the Persian Gulf must 
be resolved in a manner that includes recognition of the legitimate 
rights of and losses incurred by all refugees displaced from Arab 
countries, including Jews, Christians and other groups.
  There is broad bipartisan support for this resolution, which was 
passed with unanimous consent from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Many 
Jewish groups have endorsed the resolution, including the American 
Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish 
Organizations, Hadassah, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish 
Council for Public Affairs, the Anti-Defamation League, and the 
Orthodox Union, among others. I must particularly acknowledge the work 
of B'nai B'rith International and the strong leadership of Justice for 
Jews from Arab Countries, which has led the International Rights and 
Redress Campaign. As of September 2007, this coalition to secure the 
rights of Jewish refugees from Arab lands includes 72 organizations and 
20 countries.
  It is important to deal with this issue now while some of the 
original refugees are still alive. Justice for Jews from Arab Countries 
has organized a campaign to conduct public education programs on the 
heritage and rights of former Jewish refugees from Arab countries, to 
register family history narratives, and to catalogue communal and 
individual losses suffered by Jews who fled from Arab countries.
  By adopting this resolution and urging that the rights of Jewish 
refugees be recognized in any future comprehensive Middle East 
settlement, we are simply seeking to ensure that any such agreement is 
just, fully just to all parties. As a member of the Quartet, and in 
light of the United States' central and indispensable role in promoting 
a just Middle East peace, the U.S. must reaffirm that it embraces a 
just and comprehensive approach to the issue of Middle East refugees. I 
urge strong report for this resolution.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from 
Nevada (Ms. Berkley).
  Ms. BERKLEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his 
leadership on this important issue.
  Madam Speaker, when Israel declared its independence in May, 1948, 
seven Arab nations immediately attacked the fledgling country and 
sought to drive Israel into the sea. Simultaneously, many of the same 
Arab nations forced their own Jewish citizens to leave their ancestral 
homes, making refugees out of nearly one million people.
  The issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands speaks to one of the 
fundamental problems of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many Arab countries 
have refused to accept the existence of Israel, while cynically 
exploiting the Palestinian refugees in their war against Israel. Arab 
leaders willingly agree to confine the Palestinians to squalid camps 
where terrorism and extremism and hate are bred instead of resettling 
them and welcoming their Palestinian brothers to their own oil rich 
lands. They claim a ``right of return'' for Palestinian refugees in the 
hope that they will flood Israel in order to undermine and ultimately 
destroy the Jewish State of Israel.
  Madam Speaker, this resolution begins to set the record straight, 
while setting out a balanced approach to address the refugee issue, all 
refugees.
  Any peace plan must look at both sides of the refugee issue in an 
equal way. We must acknowledge the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, be 
aware of the hidden agenda behind a Palestinian ``right of return'' and 
expose the obstructive role played by both the Arab nations and the 
United Nations in the refugee issue. We must find just solutions for 
all refugees in this conflict, redressing the grievances of all sides 
while retaining Israel's integrity as a Jewish state.
  Mr. WEXLER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House 
Resolution 185, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 
regarding the creation of refugee populations in the Middle East, North 
Africa, and the Persian Gulf region as a result of unacceptable human 
rights violations and blatant anti-Semitism.
  For over 2,500 years, Jewish communities have resided throughout the 
Middle East, North Africa, and the Gulf region in large numbers. 
Unfortunately these vibrant Jewish communities have often been 
considered second-class citizens under onerous rulers. In the 20th 
century, widespread persecution and mass violations of human rights 
against Jewish minorities in Arab countries became unfortunately 
commonplace.
  Upon the declaration of the State of Israel's independence in 1948, 
the difficult status of Jewish minorities was greatly exacerbated as 
Arab nations declared war or supported the destruction of the nascent 
state. In response, many members of the Jewish community were forced to 
flee their countries of birth or faced becoming a political hostage. 
Jewish properties were unlawfully seized and confiscated without any 
compensation or just redress. While there were once nearly a million 
Jews living in these regions, today there are only a few thousand Jews 
remaining in these Arab countries.
  Unconscionably, the story of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries 
has been neglected by the United Nations and the international 
community for far too long. While Palestinian refugees from Israel have 
been one of the focal points of the international community, Jewish 
refugees from Arab states have been forgotten, if not intentionally 
ignored. This resolution recognizes the over 850,000 Jewish refugees 
from Arab states and expresses the sense of Congress that the 
international community should acknowledge the Jewish refugee issue as 
a part of any settlement of the Middle East conflict.
  It is clear that the violations of human rights against Jewish 
refugees from Arab countries have never been adequately addressed by 
the international community. As a cosponsor of H. Res. 185, I believe 
it is essential that Congress work with the administration to rectify 
this black mark on history. To this end, I urge my colleagues to join 
me in supporting this resolution, which sheds light on the plight of 
Jewish refugees throughout the Middle East.

[[Page 4653]]


  Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 185. I 
commend this body for recognizing the rights of Jewish refugees 
displaced from Arab countries. I agree that a resolution that addresses 
the legitimate rights of all refugees is inherent to establishing 
enduring peace in the Middle East.
  The resolution draws its strength by including all refugees in the 
Middle East, including Jews, Christians, minority communities, Iraqis, 
and Palestinians. A lasting peace in the Middle East must abate 
feelings of hostility throughout all refugee populations. As the 
resolution suggests, this includes recognition of Jewish, Palestinian, 
and Christian refugee populations but must also encompass all Middle 
East refugee populations ``numbering in the hundreds of thousands and 
comprised of peoples from many ethnic, religious, and national 
backgrounds.''
  As such, I urge this body to continue to be mindful of and work 
toward peaceful, enduring solutions for all refugee populations in the 
Middle East. Currently the two largest refugee populations in the world 
are Iraqi and Palestinian refugees. The United Nations has estimated 
that there are approximately 2,000,000 Iraqi refugees currently 
displaced from their homes (and another 2,200,000 internally 
displaced). These Iraqi refugees endure deprivation of food, shelter, 
and medical care. The United States must be mindful of the role of our 
foreign policy in the creation of this refugee population and our 
continuing role in addressing this humanitarian crisis.
  United Nations-recognized Palestinian refugees currently constitute 
an approximate 3,700,000-person population. According to the United 
Nations Relief and Work Agency, UNRWA, of these refugees, approximately 
1,300,000 Palestinian refugees continue to live in 58 recognized 
refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and the Gaza 
Strip. Moreover, ongoing Israeli policies like settlement expansion, 
which contravene the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well 
as the basis of Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements, create new 
refugee populations today.
  I support H. Res. 185 for recognizing the displacement, human rights, 
suffering and loss of all refugees. I encourage this body to do so in a 
way that brings us closer to establishing a just and long-lasting Arab-
Israeli peace. To make this dream a reality we must truly rise to 
become the ``honest broker'' of peace in the Middle East.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, on April 1st, the House of 
Representatives approved an important piece of legislation, H. Res. 
185, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the 
creation of refugee populations in the Middle East, North Africa, and 
the Persian Gulf region. I was proud to support the passage of this 
legislation because it recognized all those who have suffered during 
this long-standing conflict. For the first time in my memory, the House 
of Representatives has gone on record to say that the refugee 
population in the Middle East is not simply comprised of Palestinians, 
it is also the 850,000 Jews who have been displaced from Arab countries 
since the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. The U.S.-led 
roadmap to peace specifically calls for an ``agreed, just, fair, and 
realistic solution to the refugee issue;'' and in my opinion, and in 
the unanimous and united opinion of this House, that means Jewish and 
non-Jewish refugees alike.
  Throughout my tenure in the United States Congress, I have seen the 
U.S. act as a stalwart champion of human rights, and I have seen this 
House stand up and voice concerns about the treatment of refugees and 
minorities, as well as concerns on violations of basic human rights 
throughout the Middle East and elsewhere. As the U.S. continues to play 
a pivotal role in seeking an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 
Middle East, I urge my colleagues to continue to speak out and remind 
the world that we must not overlook the Jewish refugee problem in our 
enthusiasm for peace.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to further this 
important effort.
   Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, this week the House passed House 
Resolution 185, which expresses the sense of the House regarding the 
existence of refugee populations in the Middle East, North Africa, and 
the Persian Gulf region. In addition to the international concern about 
Palestinian refugees, this resolution calls attention to the injustices 
suffered by Jews and other ethnic groups that have lived as minorities 
in the region. I fully support this resolution's call for recognition 
of the rights of former Jewish, Christian, and other refugees from Arab 
countries.
   While much of the resolution is important and sets forth 
historically accurate information, the final paragraph of the resolving 
clause conditions resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on 
resolution of ``all refugees displaced from Arab countries.'' I share 
the goal of resolving all refugee issues in the Middle East, but I do 
not believe it is likely that they can be resolved through the 
Annapolis process or some future Israeli-Palestinian negotiating 
process. In my view, imposing such a condition will likely doom 
Annapolis and any subsequent good-faith effort to follow the roadmap to 
a permanent two-state solution first laid out in 2003. I certainly hope 
that all Middle Eastern refugee issues can and will he resolved, 
including refugees of the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and other minority 
faiths, but I cannot support linking the resolution of all Middle 
Eastern refugee issues to the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. It's not fair to Israelis or to Palestinians to tie the 
resolution of their conflict to a global resolution of all Middle 
Eastern refugee issues.
   I also disagree with the way the U.S. Congress, by passing this 
measure, has imposed new stipulations for any agreement, which 
effectively ties the hands of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
   These negotiators already have enough roadblocks to dismantle; the 
last thing that they need is the U.S.
   Congress trying to prescribe a certain method or outcome on a 
difficult issue in the negotiations, which is the refugee issue. Many 
of my colleagues and I believe the Annapolis negotiations have not gone 
as well as we hoped, but they are still--for the moment--moving 
forward. Rather than trying to impose a particular outcome on refugee 
issues, the Congress should express its support of the process and 
encourage the parties to work toward resolution of the issues they have 
already agreed are most essential.
   Again, I favor reducing the impediments to a final resolution to the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead, this week's resolution raises a 
new roadblock to the implementation of the roadmap. I urge all parties 
to support the peace process as they carefully balance the interests of 
all refugees. Let's support the negotiations, move the panics to final 
status, and work towards of vision of peace.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
so I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 185, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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