II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2938

To prohibit United States assistance to the Palestinian Authority if a

Palestinian state is declared unilaterally, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 26, 2000

Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A BILL

To prohibit United States assistance to the Palestinian Authority if a Palestinian state is declared unilaterally,

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 as the ‘‘Middle East Peace

5 Process Support Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) it is only through direct negotiations be9 tween the parties that progress toward peace has

10 been and can be achieved in the Middle East;
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1 (2) the process that began with the signing of

2 the Oslo accords in 1993 has created an important

3 negotiating framework between Israel and the Pal4 estinians that has produced the promise of an end

5 to the conflict;

6 (3) as part of the Oslo accords, Palestinian

7 Chairman Arafat committed that ‘‘all outstanding

8 issues relating to permanent status will be resolved

9 through negotiations’’;

10 (4) the repeated Palestinian threat to declare

11 an independent state unilaterally after September

12 13, 2000, is contrary to both the spirit and letter of

13 the Oslo accords;

14 (5) the unilateral declaration of an independent

15 Palestinian state will inevitably lead to violence and

16 the end of the negotiating process;

17 (6) the United States agreed to provide assist18 ance to the Palestinians only after the Oslo accords

19 were signed in order to help advance the cause of

20 peace;

21 (7) on March 11, 1999, the Senate overwhelm22 ingly adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 5, and

23 on March 16, 1999, the House of Representatives

24 adopted House Concurrent Resolution 24, both of

25 which resolved that: ‘‘any attempt to establish Pales-
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1 tinian statehood outside the negotiating process will

2 invoke the strongest Congressional opposition’’; and

3 (8) on July 25, 2000, Palestinian Chairman

4 Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Barak issued a

5 joint statement agreeing that the ‘‘two sides under6 stand the importance of avoiding unilateral actions

7 that prejudice the outcome of negotiations and that

8 their differences will be resolved in good-faith nego9 tiations.

10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE.

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, for the

12 period beginning on the date on which a Palestinian state

13 is unilaterally declared and ending on the date on which

14 such unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood is

15 rescinded—

16 (1) No funds made available by any provision of

17 law may be provided directly or indirectly to the Pal18 estinian Authority or to any successor or related en19 tity; and

20 (2) No funds made available by any provision of

21 law may be used to extend United States recognition

22 to such a unilaterally-declared Palestinian state, in23 cluding, but not limited to, funds for the payment of

24 the salary of any ambassador, consul, or other diplo25 matic personnel to such a state, or for the cost of
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1 establishing, operating, or maintaining an embassy,

2 consulate, or other diplomatic facility in such a

3 state.

4 SEC. 4. OPPOSITION TO UNITED NATIONS ADMISSION OR

5 RECOGNITION.

6 The President shall instruct the United States rep7 resentative to the United Nations to use the voice, vote,

8 and influence of the United States to oppose, in the

9 United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, or

10 any other United Nations body, admission to the United

11 Nations of a unilaterally-declared Palestinian state or for12 mal recognition by the United Nations of such a state.

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