Sec. 4. Sense of Congress
404 words·~2 min read·
/bill/115/s/3425/is/section-4·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the sense of Congress that— United States humanitarian, economic, and security assistance to the Palestinians is an important component of United States foreign policy that serves to promote long-lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians; United States support for Palestinians should be structured in a manner that promotes the prospects for peace, rather than in a manner that undermines peace; continued United States financial support for UNRWA (absent significant reform)— enables the fostering of ill will toward Israel and the United States rather than building a stable and prosperous future for Palestinians; and further exacerbates the dire economic situation faced by Palestinian communities, as documented by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ reporting of higher unemployment and lower wages in areas with a greater proportion of Palestinians living inside UNRWA camps;
UNRWA promotes a political and economic environment that is not in the immediate- or long-term interest of the Palestinian people; United States financial support for UNRWA should not be construed to imply United States support for all Palestinians' right of return to Israel; nothing prevents the United States from providing assistance to Palestinians in need regardless of refugee status; UNRWA’s policy of expanding the Palestinian refugee population, generation after generation, in contrast to every other refugee population in history, is not a financially sustainable model for United States taxpayers to continue to support without significant reform;
UNRWA, which has approximately 33,000 Palestinians on its payroll and provides many basic services in parallel to the Palestinian Authority is an obstacle to the Palestinian Authority’s ability to govern and provide basic services; the United Nations should prioritize the dismantlement of UNRWA refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza to allow Palestinians currently residing in such camps to integrate into their local communities and labor force; Senate Report 112–172 directed the Secretary of State to submit a report indicating— the approximate number of people currently served by UNRWA who actually lived in what was referred to as Palestine between 1946 and 1948 and were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; the descendants of the people described in subparagraph (A); the extent to which the provision of UNRWA services furthers the security interests of the United States and allies of the United States; and the methodology and challenges in preparing such report; the report described in paragraph
(10)should be declassified; and all refugees of Syria should be assisted solely by UNHCR as Syrian refugees.