I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5278 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to assist Palestinian refugees 

in the West Bank and Gaza to move to post-refugee status, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 3, 2006 

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. PENCE, and Mr. ROTHMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations 

A BILL 

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to assist 

Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza to 

move to post-refugee status, 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 ‘‘UNRWA Integrity 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United Nations Relief and Works 

9 Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 


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1 (UNRWA) was established in 1949 as a temporary 

2 agency to provide relief services to Palestinian refu3 gees and is the only United Nations agency dedi4 cated to one specific group of refugees. 

5 (2) Unlike the United Nations High Commis6 sioner for Refugees which seeks to find ‘‘lasting so7 lutions’’ to the plight of refugees, UNRWA makes 

8 no effort to resettle Palestinian refugees. 

9 (3) Since 1950, the United States has contrib10 uted more than $2 billion to UNRWA. 

11 (4) In 2005, the United States contributed 

12 $108 million to UNRWA, constituting approximately 

13 one-fourth of UNRWA’s 2005 budget. 

14 (5) UNRWA has never permitted an inde15 pendent third party audit by an internationally-rec16 ognized auditing firm. 

17 (6) The last audit conducted by UNRWA’s own 

18 Board of Auditors and certified by the United Na19 tions Board of Auditors provided only summary to20 tals which were vague and in addition left at least 

21 $43 million in expenditures completely undefined. 


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1 SEC. 3. LIMITATIONS ON UNITED STATES VOLUNTARY CON2 TRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA. 

3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 301 of the Foreign As4 sistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2221) is amended by in5 serting after subsection (a) the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(b) VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO UNRWA.— 

7 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara9 graph (B), voluntary contributions by the 

10 United States to the regular budget of the 

11 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 

12 Palestine Refugees in the Near East 

13 (UNRWA), or to any successor or related enti14 ty, may be provided only during a period for 

15 which a certification described in paragraph (2) 

16 is in effect. 

17 ‘‘(B) WAIVER.—The President may waive 

18 the limitation requirement of subparagraph (A) 

19 for a period not to exceed 180 days if the Presi20 dent determines that it is the national security 

21 interests of the United States to do so and noti22 fies Congress of such determination. 

23 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.—A certification described 

24 in this paragraph is a certification transmitted by 

25 the President to Congress that contains a deter26 mination of the President that UNRWA— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is not an impediment to achieving a 

2 lasting solution for Palestinian refugees in the 

3 West Bank and Gaza and moving such refugees 

4 to post-refugee status; 

5 ‘‘(B) is subject to comprehensive financial 

6 audits by an internationally-recognized third 

7 party independent auditing firm; 

8 ‘‘(C) does not knowingly provide employ9 ment, refuge, freedom of movement, cash assist10 ance, food assistance, housing rehabilitation as11 sistance, or any other type of social services as12 sistance to members of foreign terrorist organi13 zations; and 

14 ‘‘(D) does not promote anti-Semitism or 

15 the denial of the right of Israel to exist. 

16 ‘‘(3) RECERTIFICATIONS.—Not later than 180 

17 days after the date on which the President transmits 

18 to Congress an initial certification under paragraph 

19 (2), and every 180 days thereafter— 

20 ‘‘(A) the President shall transmit to Con21 gress a recertification that the requirements 

22 contained in paragraph (2) are continuing to be 

23 met; or 

24 ‘‘(B) if the President is unable to make 

25 such a recertification, the President shall transVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:25 May 07, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5278.IH H5278

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1 mit to Congress a report that contains the rea2 sons therefor. 

3 ‘‘(4) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—Vol4 untary contributions by the United States to the 

5 regular budget of UNRWA, or to any successor or 

6 related entity, may not be provided until 15 days 

7 after the date on which the President has provided 

8 notice thereof to the Committee on International Re9 lations and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

10 House of Representatives and to the Committee on 

11 Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropria12 tions of the Senate in accordance with the proce13 dures applicable to reprogramming notifications 

14 under section 634A(a) of this Act. 

15 ‘‘(5) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 

16 ‘foreign terrorist organization’ means an organiza17 tion designated as a foreign terrorist organization by 

18 the Secretary of State in accordance with section 

19 219(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 

20 U.S.C. 1189(a)).’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The requirements of sub22 section (b) of section 301 of the Foreign Assistance Act 

23 of 1961, as added by subsection (a) of this section, apply 

24 with respect to voluntary contributions by the United 

25 States to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency 


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1 for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), or 

2 to any successor or related entity, for fiscal year 2007 and 

3 each subsequent fiscal year. 

4 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

5 Not later than one year after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to 

7 Congress a report on— 

8 (1) the extent to which Palestinian refugees and 

9 United States interests are served by activities of the 

10 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Pal11 estine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), includ12 ing a determination as to whether— 

13 (A) UNRWA contributes to a solution to 

14 the refugee problem or perpetuates the refugee 

15 problem; and 

16 (B) UNRWA programs encourage or dis17 courage Palestinians from moving out of ref18 ugee camps and pursuing an economically inde19 pendent existence; 

20 (2) the extent to which UNRWA includes in its 

21 educational materials or other programs anti-Semitic 

22 elements or elements that promote the denial of the 

23 right of Israel to exist; 


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1 (3) a long-term plan for providing jobs and 

2 housing for Palestinian refugees and for phasing out 

3 services provided by UNRWA; 

4 (4) a plan for ensuring that educational mate5 rials used at UNRWA-administered schools do not 

6 promote anti-Semitism or the denial of the right of 

7 Israel to exist; and 

8 (5) the efforts of the Secretary to encourage 

9 other donors to UNRWA to support the plans de10 scribed in paragraphs (3) and (4). 

Æ 


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