•HRES 185 IH 
Whereas the United States has long voiced its concern about 
the mistreatment of minorities and the violation of 
human rights in the Middle East and elsewhere; 
Whereas the United States continues to play a pivotal role in 
seeking an end to the conflict in the Middle East and to 
promoting a peace that will benefit all the peoples of the 
region; 
Whereas a comprehensive peace in the region will require the 
resolution of all outstanding issues through bilateral and 
multilateral negotiations involving all concerned parties; 
Whereas approximately 850,000 Jews have been displaced 
from Arab countries since the declaration of the State of 
Israel in 1948; 
Whereas the United States has demonstrated interest and 
concern about the mistreatment, violation of rights, 
forced expulsion, and expropriation of assets of minority 
populations in general, and in particular, former Jewish 
refugees displaced from Arab countries as evidenced, 
inter alia, by— 
(1) the Memorandum of Understanding signed by 
President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Foreign Minister 
Moshe Dayan on October 4, 1977, which states that ‘‘[a] 
solution of the problem of Arab refugees and Jewish refu-
gees will be discussed in accordance with rules which 
should be agreed’’; 
(2) after negotiating the Camp David Accords, the 
Framework for Peace in the Middle East, the statement 
by President Jimmy Carter in a press conference on Oc-
tober 27, 1977, that ‘‘Palestinians have rights . . . obvi-
ously there are Jewish refugees . . . they have the same 
rights as others do’’; and 
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•HRES 185 IH 
(3) in an interview after Camp David II in July 
2000, at which the issue of Jewish refugees displaced 
from Arab lands was discussed, the statement by Presi-
dent Clinton that ‘‘There will have to be some sort of 
international fund set up for the refugees. There is, I 
think, some interest, interestingly enough, on both sides, 
in also having a fund which compensates the Israelis who 
were made refugees by the war, which occurred after the 
birth of the State of Israel. Israel is full of people, Jewish 
people, who lived in predominantly Arab countries who 
came to Israel because they were made refugees in their 
own land.’’; 
Whereas the international definition of a refugee clearly ap-
plies to Jews who fled the persecution of Arab regimes, 
where a refugee is a person who ‘‘owing to a well-founded 
fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, na-
tionality, membership of a particular social group, or po-
litical opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, 
and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to 
avail himself of the protection of that country’’ (the 1951 
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees); 
Whereas on January 29, 1957, the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), determined that 
Jews fleeing from Arab countries were refugees that fell 
within the mandate of the UNHCR; 
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 of 
November 22, 1967, calls for a ‘‘just settlement of the 
refugee problem’’ without distinction between Palestinian 
and Jewish refugees, and this is evidenced by— 
(1) the Soviet Union’s United Nations delegation at-
tempt to restrict the ‘‘just settlement’’ mentioned in Res-
olution 242 solely to Palestinian refugees (S/8236, dis-
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•HRES 185 IH 
cussed by the Security Council at its 1382nd meeting of 
November 22, 1967, notably at paragraph 117, in the 
words of Ambassador Kouznetsov of the Soviet Union); 
this attempt failed, signifying the international commu-
nity’s intention of having the resolution address the 
rights of all Middle East refugees; and 
(2) a statement by Justice Arthur Goldberg, the 
United States’ Chief Delegate to the United Nations at 
that time, who was instrumental in drafting the unani-
mously adopted Resolution 242, where he has pointed out 
that ‘‘The resolution addresses the objective of ‘achieving 
a just settlement of the refugee problem’. This language 
presumably refers both to Arab and Jewish refugees, for 
about an equal number of each abandoned their homes 
as a result of the several wars.’’; 
Whereas in his opening remarks before the January 28, 
1992, organizational meeting for multilateral negotiations 
on the Middle East in Moscow, United States Secretary 
of State James Baker made no distinction between Pales-
tinian refugees and Jewish refugees in articulating the 
mission of the Refugee Working Group, stating that 
‘‘[t]he refugee group will consider practical ways of im-
proving the lot of people throughout the region who have 
been displaced from their homes’’; 
Whereas the Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to 
the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which refers in Phase III 
to an ‘‘agreed, just, fair, and realistic solution to the ref-
ugee issue,’’ uses language that is equally applicable to 
all persons displaced as a result of the conflict in the 
Middle East; 
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•HRES 185 IH 
Whereas Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinians have affirmed 
that a comprehensive solution to the Middle East conflict 
will require a just solution to the plight of all ‘‘refugees’’; 
Whereas the initiative to secure rights and redress for Jewish 
and other minorities who were forced to flee Arab coun-
tries does not conflict with the right of Palestinian refu-
gees to claim redress; 
Whereas the international community should be aware of the 
plight of Jews and other minority groups displaced from 
countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Per-
sian Gulf; 
Whereas an international campaign is proceeding in some 40 
countries to record the history and legacy of Jewish refu-
gees from Arab countries; 
Whereas no just, comprehensive Middle East peace can be 
reached without addressing the uprooting of centuries-old 
Jewish communities in the Middle East, North Africa, 
and the Persian Gulf; and 
Whereas it would be inappropriate and unjust for the United 
States to recognize rights for Palestinian refugees with-
out recognizing equal rights for former Jewish, Christian, 
and other refugees from Arab countries: Now, therefore, 
be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) for any comprehensive Middle East peace 
agreement to be credible and enduring, the agree-
ment must address and resolve all outstanding 
issues relating to the legitimate rights of all refugees 
in the Middle East, including Jews, Christians, and 
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•HRES 185 IH 
other populations displaced from countries in the re-
gion; and 
(2) the President should instruct the United 
States Representative to the United Nations and all 
United States representatives in bilateral and multi-
lateral fora to— 
(A) use the voice, vote, and influence of 
the United States to ensure that any resolu-
tions relating to the issue of Middle East refu-
gees, and which include a reference to the re-
quired resolution of the Palestinian refugee 
issue, must also include a similarly explicit ref-
erence to the resolution of the issue of Jewish, 
Christian, and other refugees from Arab coun-
tries; and 
(B) make clear that the United States 
Government supports the position that, as an 
integral part of any comprehensive Arab-Israeli 
peace, the issue of refugees from the Middle 
East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf must 
be resolved in a manner that includes recogni-
tion of the legitimate rights of and losses in-
curred by all refugees displaced from Arab 
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countries including Jews, Christians, and other 
minority groups. 
Æ 
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