I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1221 

To seek the establishment of and contributions to an International Fund 

for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2017 

Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself and 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. 

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 ‘‘International Fund 

5 for Israeli-Palestinian Peace Authorization Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Peaceful co-existence in the Middle East be9 tween Israelis and Palestinians, and between Mus10 lims, Christians, Jews, and those of all backgrounds 


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1 is in the interests of the United States, Israel, the 

2 Palestinian people, and the world. 

3 (2) While the United States and its inter4 national allies continue to support diplomatic and 

5 political negotiations between the representatives of 

6 the parties to the conflict as well as others, in the 

7 long run such efforts require broad popular support 

8 among people in order to succeed. In order to 

9 achieve lasting peace in the region, the people who 

10 live there must, over time, sustain any potential 

11 high-level agreements. 

12 (3) Through many independent individual and 

13 nongovernmental activities, tens of thousands of peo14 ple of different backgrounds are already working to15 gether to build better relations between people, 

16 through people-to-people coexistence and trust-build17 ing measures, activities, and other cooperative ef18 forts. 

19 (4) By working cooperatively on shared goals 

20 and addressing mutual understanding, participants 

21 in such activities, including youth, can come to re22 ject violence and understand the promise of peaceful 

23 coexistence. 

24 (5) Through support for people-to-people ex25 changes in the region and joint economic initiatives, 


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1 millions of ordinary citizens affected by this conflict 

2 can assist in building support for lasting peace. 

3 (6) Working together, the United States, coun4 tries around the world, and the private sector can, 

5 and often seek to support opportunities that, help 

6 sustain support for peace with the establishment and 

7 funding of an independent International Fund for 

8 Israeli-Palestinian Peace (referred to in this Act as 

9 the ‘‘International Fund’’), to promote and support 

10 contact, cooperation, dialogue, shared community 

11 building, peaceful coexistence, joint economic devel12 opment, and reconciliation between Israelis and Pal13 estinians. 

14 (7) United States and international support for 

15 grassroots people-to-people efforts can help serve as 

16 an antidote to false propaganda by terrorist groups 

17 and the growing issue of incitement. 

18 (8) The International Fund shall serve as a co19 ordinating entity offering expertise and support, ad20 hering to best practices for governance, trans21 parency, assessment and accountability. The Inter22 national Fund will be an ongoing presence and cata23 lyst for rejecting violence and building broad public 

24 support for sustaining peace in the region. The 

25 International Fund is not intended to be a political 


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1 forum, but a grant-making body to facilitate endur2 ing people-to-people relationships and sustained joint 

3 economic development. 

4 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol5 lows: 

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

7 in conjunction with the Government of Israel, the 

8 Palestinian Authority, regional governments, and the 

9 international community to establish a non-political, 

10 mutually acceptable International Fund to promote 

11 and support contact, cooperation, dialogue, shared 

12 community building, peaceful coexistence, joint eco13 nomic development, and reconciliation between 

14 Israelis and Palestinians. 

15 (2) To provide for United States contributions 

16 to consist of amounts made available to carry out 

17 chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act 

18 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq. (relating to the 

19 Economic Support Fund)) for payment to the Inter20 national Fund to carry out the activities described in 

21 paragraph (1), in addition to overhead costs of the 

22 establishment of said fund and the function of its 

23 oversight board. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR 

2 ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE. 

3 Congress urges the President to make every effort, 

4 in conjunction with the Government of Israel, the Pales5 tinian Authority, and the international community, to es6 tablish an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian 

7 Peace governed by a board of the constituent parties to 

8 carry out the purposes described in section 2(b). 

9 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE INTER10 NATIONAL FUND FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN 

11 PEACE. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Of the amounts made available 

13 for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2021 to carry out 

14 chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

15 (22 U.S.C. 2346 et seq. (relating to the Economic Support 

16 Fund)), $50,000,000 is authorized to be appropriated for 

17 United States contributions to the International Fund fol18 lowing the committee of jurisdictions agreement to the 

19 structure of the fund and its board. 

20 (b) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES.—Amounts author21 ized to be appropriated pursuant to subsection (a)— 

22 (1) are in addition to amounts otherwise au23 thorized to be appropriated for such purposes; and 

24 (2) are authorized to remain available until ex25 pended. 


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1 SEC. 5. CONDITIONS AND UNDERSTANDINGS RELATING TO 

2 INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ISRAELI-PALES3 TINIAN PEACE. 

4 (a) SUPPORT AND PROMOTION OF PURPOSES.— 

5 United States contributions to the International Fund 

6 provided for in section 4 may be used only to support and 

7 promote the purposes described in section 2(b). 

8 (b) ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS.—The restrictions 

9 described in section 531(e) of the Foreign Assistance Act 

10 of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2346(e)) shall apply to United States 

11 contributions to the International Fund provided for in 

12 section 4 to the same extent and in the same manner as 

13 such restrictions apply to amounts made available to carry 

14 out chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act 

15 of 1961. The United States contributions shall be man16 aged and dispersed through existing USAID mechanisms. 

17 (c) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATION ON BOARD

18 OF INTERNATIONAL FUND.—The United States shall pro19 vide two representatives from different political parties to 

20 the Board of the International Fund. The function of the 

21 board is to provide recommendations for programmatic 

22 support and direction on promoting contact, cooperation, 

23 dialogue, shared community building, peaceful coexistence, 

24 joint economic development, and reconciliation between 

25 Israelis and Palestinians. The board should oversee and 


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1 contain an expertise in program integrity, monitoring and 

2 evaluation and assessment. 

3 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—At the end of each fiscal year in 

5 which the United States Government makes any contribu6 tion to the International Fund in accordance with this Act, 

7 the President shall transmit to Congress a written report 

8 on the extent to which the International Fund and United 

9 States contributions to the International Fund have con10 tributed to promoting and supporting contact, coopera11 tion, dialogue, shared community building, peaceful coex12 istence, joint economic development, and reconciliation be13 tween Israelis and Palestinians. 

14 (b) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The reports re15 quired under subsection (a) shall also include the fol16 lowing: 

17 (1) Information on contributions pledged to, 

18 contributions (including donations from the private 

19 sector) received by, and projects funded by the 

20 International Fund, and the mechanisms established 

21 for transparency and accountability in the grant22 making process. 

23 (2) A description of the International Fund’s 

24 operations, activities, budget, receipts, and expendi25 tures for the preceding 12-month period, including 


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1 an audited report of the International Fund’s fi2 nances, including statements of financial position, 

3 operations, and cash flows, in accordance with the 

4 United States generally accepted government audit5 ing standards as prescribed by the Comptroller Gen6 eral. 

7 (3) Insights gleaned from what drives the effi8 cacy of people-to-people relationships in addition to 

9 a description of potential strategies for getting to 

10 sustainability for civic institutions that the fund cre11 ates or supports including novel financing mecha12 nisms. 

Æ 


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