Right of Return Act

To achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East and improve the economic situation for its people. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Right of Return Act 2. Plan for peace (a) Findings Congress finds as follows: (1) The policy of the two-state solution and the concept of land for peace (2) In November 2014, Suha Arafat, wife of former Palestine Liberation Organization chair Yasser Arafat, stated in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that The armed struggle today will not lead to anything. We will only end up crushed. Hamas has taken people hostage A generation … is growing up in violence, with no education, with no hope but emigration (3) The Palestinian Authority has been offered a sovereign state in virtually the entirety of the disputed territories on multiple occasions, including in 2000, 2001, and 2008, and has rejected it each time. (4) The 2011 unemployment rate at 28.4 percent for Palestinian Arabs, compared with 5.1 percent for Israeli Arabs. (5) A September 2007 survey by the Center for Palestinian Policy and Research found that 32 percent of Palestinian Arabs want to emigrate. (6) The Emirate of Transjordan was created out of the British Mandate for Palestine for the explicit purpose of being the home for Palestinian Arabs by the Transjordan Memorandum in 1922. (7) The concept of enabling people to move to new homes in other territories was recommended as a solution to the conflict by the Peel Commission in 1937 and was also recommended as a solution to the conflict by the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. (8) The 2012 Levy Report found that the region of Judea and Samaria does not fall under the jurisdiction of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention. (9) The purpose of this bill is to increase the economic wealth and civil rights of Palestinian Arabs. (b) Plan for peace The Congress of the United States shall take the following course of action: (1) The Secretary of State shall call for the State of Israel to increase the standard of living of those living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by extending its sovereignty over those territories, and for the Palestinian Arab residents currently residing in those areas to be granted citizenship in the countries that controlled those territories from 1949 to 1967 and have a right of return to those countries. (2) As long as part of the unity government of the Palestinian Authority refuses to allow the right of return to the countries that controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967, no funds appropriated by Congress under any Act may be obligated or expended to provide any United States assistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Palestinian Authority. (3) The Secretary of State of the United States shall take such action as will ensure that refugees are allowed to be properly allowed to return into their host countries in accordance with the regulations set forth by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). (4) All United States assistance, loan guarantee, and debt relief that currently goes to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shall instead be used to assist those who exercise their right of return to the countries who controlled Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1949 to 1967.

Summary: Right of Return Act - Requires the following courses of action: the Secretary of State shall call for Israel to increase the standard of living of those living in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza by extending its sovereignty over those territories, and for the Palestinian Arab residents currently residing in those areas to be granted citizenship in the countries that controlled them from 1949 to 1967 and have a right of return to those countries; no funds appropriated by Congress may be obligated or expended to provide any U.S. assistance, loan guarantee, or debt relief to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as long as part of the PA unity government refuses to allow such right of return; the Secretary shall ensure that refugees are allowed to return to their host countries in accordance with United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) regulations; and all U.S. assistance, loan guarantee, and debt relief that currently go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) shall instead be used to assist those who exercise their right of return.