I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5734 

To achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East and improve the economic 

situation for its people. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2014 

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

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East and improve 

the economic situation for its people. 

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 ‘‘Right of Return Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PLAN FOR PEACE. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 

7 (1) The policy of the two-state solution and the 

8 concept of ‘‘land for peace’’ have consistently failed 

9 to bring about a lasting peace in the Land of Israel. 


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1 (2) In November 2014, Suha Arafat, wife of 

2 former Palestine Liberation Organization chair Yas3 ser Arafat, stated in the Italian newspaper La 

4 Repubblica that ‘‘The armed struggle today will not 

5 lead to anything. We will only end up crushed.’’. In 

6 that same interview, Arafat also stated that ‘‘Hamas 

7 has taken people hostage’’ and ‘‘A generation . . . 

8 is growing up in violence, with no education, with no 

9 hope but emigration’’. 

10 (3) The Palestinian Authority has been offered 

11 a sovereign state in virtually the entirety of the dis12 puted territories on multiple occasions, including in 

13 2000, 2001, and 2008, and has rejected it each 

14 time. 

15 (4) The 2011 unemployment rate at 28.4 per16 cent for Palestinian Arabs, compared with 5.1 per17 cent for Israeli Arabs. 

18 (5) A September 2007 survey by the Center for 

19 Palestinian Policy and Research found that 32 per20 cent of Palestinian Arabs want to emigrate. 

21 (6) The Emirate of Transjordan was created 

22 out of the British Mandate for Palestine for the ex23 plicit purpose of being the home for Palestinian 

24 Arabs by the Transjordan Memorandum in 1922. 


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1 (7) The concept of enabling people to move to 

2 new homes in other territories was recommended as 

3 a solution to the conflict by the Peel Commission in 

4 1937 and was also recommended as a solution to the 

5 conflict by the United Nations Partition Plan for 

6 Palestine in 1947. 

7 (8) The 2012 Levy Report found that the re8 gion of Judea and Samaria does not fall under the 

9 jurisdiction of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. 

10 (9) The purpose of this bill is to increase the 

11 economic wealth and civil rights of Palestinian 

12 Arabs. 

13 (b) PLAN FOR PEACE.—The Congress of the United 

14 States shall take the following course of action: 

15 (1) The Secretary of State shall call for the 

16 State of Israel to increase the standard of living of 

17 those living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by extend18 ing its sovereignty over those territories, and for the 

19 Palestinian Arab residents currently residing in 

20 those areas to be granted citizenship in the countries 

21 that controlled those territories from 1949 to 1967 

22 and have a right of return to those countries. 

23 (2) As long as part of the unity government of 

24 the Palestinian Authority refuses to allow the right 

25 of return to the countries that controlled Judea, SaVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:55 Nov 19, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5734.IH H5734

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1 maria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967, no funds ap2 propriated by Congress under any Act may be obli3 gated or expended to provide any United States as4 sistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Pales5 tinian Authority. 

6 (3) The Secretary of State of the United States 

7 shall take such action as will ensure that refugees 

8 are allowed to be properly allowed to return into 

9 their host countries in accordance with the regula10 tions set forth by the United Nations High Commis11 sion for Refugees (UNHCR). 

12 (4) All United States assistance, loan guar13 antee, and debt relief that currently goes to the 

14 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Pales15 tinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shall 

16 instead be used to assist those who exercise their 

17 right of return to the countries who controlled 

18 Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967. 

Æ 


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