I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1605 

To seek the establishment of and contributions to an International Fund 

for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2009 

Mr. CROWLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To seek the establishment of and contributions to an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited at as the ‘‘International Fund 

5 for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Authorization Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) The persistence of decades-old violence, con10 flict, and instability in the Middle East gravely afVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:59 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1605.IH H1605

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1 fects the national security of the United States and 

2 peace and stability throughout the world. 

3 (2) The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian and broader 

4 Arab-Israeli conflicts strengthen extremists and op5 ponents of peace throughout the region. 

6 (3) The establishment of peace between Israelis 

7 and Palestinians, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, in 

8 the Middle East is in the vital interests of the 

9 United States, Israelis, Palestinians, the region, and 

10 the world. 

11 (4) While the United States and its inter12 national allies continue to support diplomatic and 

13 political negotiations between the national govern14 ment representatives of the parties to the conflict, 

15 such efforts require broad popular support among 

16 the Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Christian, and Jew17 ish peoples in order to succeed. Indeed, political 

18 agreements may never arrive or endure without sub19 stantial public support. 

20 (5) Through many independent nongovern21 mental activities, tens of thousands of Israelis and 

22 Palestinians, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews, al23 ready work together to build better relations between 

24 peoples, through people-to-people coexistence and 

25 reconciliation activities and other cooperative efforts. 


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1 (6) Such civil society initiatives promote con2 tact, cooperation, dialogue, shared community build3 ing, peaceful coexistence, joint economic develop4 ment, and reconciliation between Israelis and Pal5 estinians, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews, in the 

6 Middle East and thereby constitute a key means for 

7 building grassroots support for a peaceful resolution 

8 to the conflict. 

9 (7) By working together, building positive rela10 tionships, learning about each other, and interacting 

11 regularly in their daily lives, participants in such ac12 tivities come to recognize the human face of people 

13 across conflict lines, understand that people of good 

14 will seek peaceful coexistence, and support efforts to 

15 marginalize extremists and build peace. The impact 

16 of these programs spreads from participants to their 

17 families and communities. 

18 (8) These tangible initiatives also provide much19 needed services to individuals and communities in 

20 their everyday lives, helping Israelis and Palestin21 ians, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews, in the re22 gion work, learn, and play together; solve shared 

23 problems; and build socially and economically 

24 stronger societies. These efforts extend into every 

25 sphere of everyday life, promoting cooperation in 


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1 business, education, healthcare, community building, 

2 sports, the environment, and the arts. 

3 (9) While such efforts have demonstrated in4 spiring success and touched tens of thousands of 

5 people, severely limited funding has heretofore pre6 vented them from reaching millions of Israelis, Pal7 estinians, Muslims, Christians, and Jews and thus 

8 having a truly widespread impact on popular support 

9 for peace. 

10 (10) Majorities of Israelis and Palestinians pri11 vately indicate their support for peace and a final 

12 settlement of the conflict, but extensive, direct grass13 roots efforts are needed to mobilize these silent ma14 jorities into active and vocal constituents for peace. 

15 (11) Dramatically increased funding, coordina16 tion, and support for people-to-people coexistence, 

17 reconciliation, and joint economic initiatives can en18 gage millions of ordinary citizens affected by this 

19 conflict in building support for peace. 

20 (12) Working together, the United States, na21 tions around the world, and the private sector can 

22 catalyze widespread support for peace with the es23 tablishment and funding of an independent Inter24 national Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, to pro25 mote contact, cooperation, dialogue, shared commuVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:59 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1605.IH H1605

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1 nity building, peaceful coexistence, joint economic 

2 development, and reconciliation between Israelis and 

3 Palestinians, and Muslims, Christians and Jews, in 

4 the Middle East. 

5 (13) Such a Fund will be an expert coordi6 nating body, adhering to best practices for govern7 ance, transparency, and accountability. It will ensure 

8 that the United States and the international commu9 nity stand fully behind the brave Israelis and Pal10 estinians and Muslims, Christians, and Jews willing 

11 to work together for peace and a better future. It 

12 will be an ongoing presence and catalyst, building 

13 broad public support for a lasting peace in the re14 gion. The Fund is not intended to be a political 

15 forum, but a grant-making body. 

16 (b) PURPOSES.—Therefore, the purposes of this Act 

17 are as follows: 

18 (1) To urge the President to make every effort, 

19 in conjunction with the Government of Israel, the 

20 Palestinian Authority, and the international commu21 nity to establish a non-political International Fund 

22 for Israeli-Palestinian Peace to promote and support 

23 contact, cooperation, dialogue, shared community 

24 building, peaceful coexistence, joint economic develVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:59 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1605.IH H1605

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1 opment, and reconciliation between Israelis and Pal2 estinians, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews. 

3 (2) To provide for United States contributions 

4 to consist of Economic Support Fund assistance for 

5 payment to the International Fund for Israeli-Pales6 tinian Peace to carry out the activities described in 

7 paragraph (1). 

8 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL FUND. 

9 Congress urges the President to make every effort, 

10 in conjunction with the Government of Israel, the Pales11 tinian Authority, and the international community, to es12 tablish an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian 

13 Peace (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘International 

14 Fund’’) to carry out the purposes described in section 

15 2(b). 

16 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE INTER17 NATIONAL FUND. 

18 (a) FISCAL YEAR 2010.—Of the amounts made avail19 able for the fiscal year 2010 to carry out chapter 4 of 

20 part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

21 2346 et seq. (relating to the Economic Support Fund)), 

22 $50,000,000 is authorized to be appropriated for United 

23 States contributions to the International Fund. Pending 

24 the formal establishment of the International Fund, such 

25 amounts may, pursuant to an agreement with the GovernVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:59 Mar 20, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1605.IH H1605

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1 ment of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, or other nations 

2 be disbursed into and maintained in a separate account. 

3 (b) FISCAL YEARS 2011, 2012, 2013, AND 2014.— 

4 Of the amounts made available for each of the fiscal years 

5 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 to carry out chapter 4 of 

6 part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, 50,000,000 

7 is authorized to be appropriated for United States con8 tributions to the International Fund. 

9 (c) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—Amounts appro10 priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 

11 under subsections (a) and (b)— 

12 (1) are in addition to amounts otherwise au13 thorized to be appropriated for such purposes; 

14 (2) are authorized to remain available until ex15 pended; and 

16 (3) may be provided notwithstanding any other 

17 provision of law. 

18 SEC. 5. CONDITIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS RELATING TO 

19 UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS. 

20 (a) PROMOTING PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE COEXISTENCE, 

21 RECONCILIATION, AND JOINT ECONOMIC EFFORTS.—The 

22 United States contributions provided for in this Act may 

23 be used only to support and promote the purposes de24 scribed in section 2(b). 


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1 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The restrictions 

2 contained in section 531(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act 

3 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346a) apply with respect to United 

4 States contributions provided for in this Act. 

5 (c) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATION ON THE

6 BOARD OF THE FUND.—The President shall make every 

7 effort to ensure that there is United States representation 

8 on the Board of the International Fund. 

9 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

10 At the end of each fiscal year in which the United 

11 States Government makes any contribution to the Inter12 national Fund, the President shall transmit to the Con13 gress a report on the degree to which the International 

14 Fund, and the United States contribution to it, have con15 tributed to promoting contact, cooperation, dialogue, 

16 shared community building, peaceful coexistence, joint 

17 economic development, and reconciliation between Israelis 

18 and Palestinians, and Muslims, Christians, and Jews, in 

19 the Middle East. 

Æ 


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