I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1795
To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) or the Palestinian Authority if the President deter-
mines that these entities have not complied with certain commitments
made by the entities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 10, 2001
Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself, Mr. GILMAN, and Mr. LANTOS) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To require the imposition of sanctions with respect to the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) or the Pales-
tinian Authority if the President determines that these
entities have not complied with certain commitments
made by the entities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Middle East Peace
Commitments Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) In 1993, the Palestine Liberation Organiza-
tion (hereinafter in this title referred to as the
‘‘PLO’’) made the following commitments in an ex-
change of letters with the Prime Minister of Israel:
(A) Recognition of the right of the State of
Israel to exist in peace and security.
(B) Acceptance of United Nations Security
Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
(C) Resolution of all outstanding issues in
the conflict between the two sides through nego-
tiations and exclusively peaceful means.
(D) Renunciation of the use of terrorism
and all other acts of violence and responsibility
over all PLO elements and personnel in order
to assure their compliance, prevent violations,
and discipline violators.
(2) The Palestinian Authority, the governing
body of autonomous Palestinian territories, was cre-
ated as a result of agreements between the PLO and
the State of Israel that are a direct outgrowth of the
commitments made in 1993.
(3) The PLO made the following commitments
in the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Gov-
ernment Arrangements of 1993, the Israeli-Pales-
tinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the
(F) To prevent the establishment or oper-
ation in the West Bank or Gaza Strip of any
armed force other than the Palestinian Police
and Israeli military forces.
(G) To establish, and vigorously and con-
tinually implement, a systematic program for
the collection and appropriate handling of all il-
legal firearms, ammunition or weapons.
(H) To maintain continuous intensive and
comprehensive bilateral security cooperation
with Israel.
(4) The President of the United States wit-
nessed and signed the Declaration of Principles on
Interim Self-Government Arrangements of 1993, the
Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip of 1995, and the Wye
River Memorandum of 1998, placing at issue the
credibility and reputation of the United States with
regard to the implementation of the agreements.
(5) The United States has a longstanding, and
enduring, vital national security interest in the
peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
and to that end has provided the parties with its
good offices and considerable financial assistance.
(6) The State of Israel has made incontrovert-
ible and extensive efforts to resolve its conflict with
the PLO by negotiating in good faith and offering
concessions of a magnitude to demonstrate conclu-
sively its clear commitment to reaching a just and
enduring settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian con-
flict.
(7) The PLO’s commitment to its freely accept-
ed obligations, specified in paragraphs (1) and (3),
has come into question as a result of the violence
and mayhem occurring since September 28, 2000,
creating significant doubt as to the PLO’s commit-
ment to the fundamental principle of resolving its
conflict with the State of Israel exclusively through
direct bilateral negotiations.
SEC. 3. REPORTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall, at the times
specified in subsection (b), transmit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report on compliance by the
PLO or the Palestinian Authority, as appropriate, with
each of the commitments specified in section 2(1) and
2(3). The report shall include, with respect to each such
commitment, the determination of the President as to
whether or not the PLO or the Palestinian Authority, as
appropriate, has complied with that commitment during
the period since the submission of the preceding report
or, in the case of the initial report, during the preceding
six-month period. In the event that the President imposed
one or more sanctions under section 4 during the period
covered by the report, the report shall include a descrip-
tion of the each such sanction imposed.
(b) TRANSMISSION.—The initial report required
under subsection (a) shall be transmitted not later than
30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. Each sub-
sequent report shall be submitted on the date on which
the President is next required to submit a report under
the P.L.O. Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 (title
VIII of Public Law 101–246) and may be combined with
such report.
SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—If, in any report transmitted pur-
suant to section 3, the President determines that the PLO
or the Palestinian Authority, as appropriate, has not com-
plied with each of the commitments specified in section
2(1) and 2(3), or if the President fails to make a deter-
mination with respect to such compliance, the President
shall, for a period of time not less than the period de-
scribed in subsection (b), impose one or more of the fol-
lowing sanctions:
(1) DENIAL
OF
VISAS
TO
PLO
AND
PALES-
TINIAN
AUTHORITY
OFFICIALS.—The Secretary of
State shall not issue a visa to any member of the
PLO or any official of the Palestinian Authority.
(2) DOWNGRADE IN STATUS OF PLO OFFICE IN
THE UNITED STATES.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the President shall withdraw or ter-
minate any waiver by the President of the require-
ments of section 1003 of the Foreign Relations Au-
thorization Act of 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5202)
(prohibiting the establishment or maintenance of a
Palestinian information office in the United States),
and such section shall apply so as to prohibit the op-
eration of a PLO or Palestinian Authority office in
the United States from carrying out any function
other than those functions carried out by the Pales-
tinian information office in existence prior to the
Oslo Accords.
(3) DESIGNATION
AS
A
FOREIGN
TERRORIST
ORGANIZATION.—The President shall designate the
PLO, or one or more of its constituent groups (in-
cluding Fatah and Tanzim) or groups operating as
arms of the Palestinian Authority (including Force
17) as a foreign terrorist organization, in accordance
with section 219(a) of the Immigration and Nation-
ality Act.
(4) PROHIBITION ON UNITED STATES ASSIST-
ANCE
TO
THE
WEST
BANK
AND
GAZA.—United
States assistance (except humanitarian assistance)
shall not be provided to programs or projects in the
West Bank or Gaza.
(b) DURATION OF SANCTIONS.—The period of time
referred to in subsection (a) is the period of time com-
mencing on the date that the report pursuant to section
3 was transmitted and ending on the later of—
(1) the date that is six months after such date;
or
(2) the date that the next report under section
3 is required to be transmitted.
(c) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The President may waive
any or all of the sanctions imposed under subsection (a)
if the President determines that such a waiver is in the
national security interest of the United States. The Presi-
dent shall report such a determination to the appropriate
congressional committees.
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