IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 848 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 25, 2006 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. FERGUSON, and Mr. NADLER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

RESOLUTION 

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. 

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, more than 

1,000 years before the advent of Islam; 


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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 conflict in the Middle East and to 

promoting a peace that will benefit all the peoples 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 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 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 


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(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, disVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:37 May 31, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR848.IH HR848

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cussed 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); 

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; 


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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’’; 

Whereas the initiative to secure rights and redress for Jewish 

and other minorities who were forced to flee Arab countries does not conflict with the right of Palestinian refugees to claim redress; 

Whereas the international community 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 no just, comprehensive Middle East peace can 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 not be appropriate, and would constitute an 

injustice, were the United States to recognize rights for 

Palestinian refugees without recognizing equal rights for 

former Jewish, Christian, and other refugees from Arab 

countries: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the United States deplores the past and 

3 continuing violations of human rights and religious 

4 freedoms of minority populations in Arab and Mus5 lim countries throughout the Middle East, North Af6 rica, and the Persian Gulf; 

7 (2) for any comprehensive Middle East peace 

8 agreement to be credible and enduring, the agree9 ment must address and resolve all outstanding 


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1 issues relating to the legitimate rights of all refugees 

2 in the Middle East, including Jews, Christians, and 

3 other populations displaced from countries in the re4 gion; and 

5 (3) the President should instruct the United 

6 States Representative to the United Nations and all 

7 United States representatives in bilateral and multi8 lateral fora to— 

9 (A) use the voice, vote, and influence of 

10 the United States to ensure that any resolu11 tions relating to the issue of Middle East refu12 gees, and which include a reference to the re13 quired resolution of the Palestinian refugee 

14 issue, must also include a similarly explicit ref15 erence to the resolution of the issue of Jewish, 

16 Christian, and other refugees from Arab coun17 tries; and 

18 (B) make clear that the United States 

19 Government supports the position that, as an 

20 integral part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli 

21 peace, the issue of refugees from the Middle 

22 East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf must 

23 be resolved in a manner that includes recogni24 tion of the legitimate rights of and losses in25 curred by all refugees displaced from Arab 


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1 countries including Jews, Christians, and other 

2 minority groups. 

Æ 


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