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Jewish refugees from Arab lands has received little atten-
tion or international recognition; 
Whereas Jews have lived in areas that are now Arab coun-
tries for more than 2,500 years; 
Whereas during the time period surrounding the creation of 
the State of Israel, nearly 900,000 of these Jews fled 
Arab countries because they faced a campaign of ethnic 
clensing and were forced to leave behind land, private 
homes, personal affects, businesses, community assets, 
and thousands of years of their Jewish heritage and his-
tory; 
Whereas Israel absorbed approximately 650,000 Jewish refu-
gees from Arab countries during its first 10 years of 
statehood, granting them full Israeli citizenship and inte-
grating them into Israeli society and culture, yet this in-
tegration does not diminish the plight of the refugees who 
left behind their heritage and their respective homelands; 
Whereas although the United Nations High Commission for 
Refugees (UNHCR) is the international body charged 
with protecting refugees and solving refugee problems 
throughout the world, a special agency, the United Na-
tions Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in 
the Near East (UNRWA), was established in 1950 for 
the exclusive benefit of the Palestinian refugees; 
Whereas UNRWA makes no effort to permanently resettle 
Palestinian refugees, even those residing under the juris-
diction of the Palestinian Authority, which has perpet-
uated the Palestinian refugee problem and the suffering 
of the Palestinian refugees; 
Whereas there is evidence that UNRWA facilities have been 
used for terrorist recruitment and training, as well as
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bases for terrorist operations, with little attempt by 
UNRWA to prevent attacks or alert relevant law enforce-
ment authorities about terrorist activities; 
Whereas Congress has repeatedly raised concerns about con-
nections between UNRWA facilities and violence and ter-
rorist activities; 
Whereas on July 16, 2003 the House of Representatives 
passed H.R. 1950, the Millennium Challenge Account, 
Peace Corps Expansion, and Foreign Relations Author-
ization Act of 2003, containing section 731(9), which 
‘‘strongly urges UNRWA to meet the requirements, in 
letter and spirit, of section 301(c) of the Foreign Assist-
ance Act of 1961, including by comprehensively ensuring 
that no UNRWA assistance is rendered to anyone who 
has been involved with terrorism at any time and that all 
UNRWA beneficiaries be informed at the earliest possible 
time, and at regular intervals thereafter, that anyone in-
volved with terrorism thereafter will be ineligible for 
UNRWA benefits’’; and 
Whereas that Act also contains section 731(11), which ‘‘notes 
the General Accounting Office (GAO) audit required by 
section 580 of the FY 2003 Foreign Operations Appro-
priations Act (Public Law 108–7), and strongly encour-
ages the GAO to conduct, as part of this audit, an inves-
tigation and inspection of all recent United States assist-
ance to UNRWA to ensure that taxpayer funds are being 
spent effectively and are not directly or indirectly sup-
porting terrorism, anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish teachings, 
or the glorification or incitement of violence’’: Now, 
therefore, be it
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Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the international community should formally 
recognize the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab 
countries and the circumstances surrounding their 
departure as a part of any settlement of the Middle 
East conflict or as part of any agreement regarding 
the issue of refugees; 
(2) the United Nations Relief and Works Agen-
cy for Palestine Refugees in the Near East 
(UNRWA) should establish a program for resettling 
all of the Palestinian refugees under the authority of 
UNRWA in the host countries or territories in which 
they are living, other Arab countries, or third party 
countries willing to assist, and a timetable for imple-
menting the program within 6 months of the date of 
the adoption of this resolution; 
(3) UNRWA should immediately replace text-
books and educational materials used in the 
UNRWA education system that promote anti-Semi-
tism, deny the existence and the right to exist of the 
state of Israel, and exacerbate stereotypes and ten-
sions between Palestinians and Israelis, and take 
steps to ensure that UNRWA facilities are not being
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used to store weapons or to promote violence or ter-
rorism; and 
(4) Arab countries should contribute to a last-
ing solution to the refugee problem by accepting a 
meaningful number of refugees and taking a larger 
role in financing UNRWA and the cost of resettle-
ment.
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