Senators Feinstein, Lugar to Introduce Legislation to
Disapprove of Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State
August 23, 2000

Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) today announced that they will introduce legislation when the Senate returns to session that states that the United States should not recognize any unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

“As part of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Palestinian Chairman Arafat committed to resolving all outstanding issues through negotiations, a position he reiterated on July 25, 2000.” Senator Feinstein said. “The creation of any Palestinian State should be the result of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, not the result of unilateral action. A unilateral step of this sort by the Palestinians would, in my view, undermine the peace process and may, in fact, derail it.”

“While Chairman Arafat has made several statements indicating that he may not follow through on the threats to declare a unilateral state on September 13, I believe that it is crucial for the U.S. Congress to be clear in its statement of how the United States would react to such a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood.”

The legislation would also:

• Urge the President and Secretary of State to use all diplomatic means to work with U.S. allies to not extend recognition to such a Palestinian State;

• Prohibit any direct United States assistance to a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, except for humanitarian assistance or cooperation on anti-terrorism efforts;

• Direct the Secretary of the Treasury to oppose Palestinian membership in any international financial institution by a unilaterally declared Palestinian state. It would also direct the Secretary of the Treasury to oppose any financial assistance from these institutions to such a state;

• State the Sense of Congress that the President should downgrade the status of the Palestinian office in the United States to an information office;

• State the Sense of Congress that the President should oppose Palestinian membership in the United Nations or any other international organization, and that the United States should oppose economic or other assistance to a unilaterally declared Palestinian state, except for humanitarian or security assistance; and

“I was deeply disappointed that the last round of negotiations at Camp David did not succeed in reaching an agreement,” Feinstein continued. “As President Clinton has stated, Prime Minister Barak appeared to make every effort to reach out and extend the hand of peace, and showed tremendous political courage in placing items on the table for negotiation that no Israeli Prime Minister was previously even willing to discuss with Palestinian leadership.”

“If Mr. Arafat is willing to continue to work within the context of the peace process, then he will find that he has a partner in the United States; if he is not, however, than I believe that the United States should neither condone nor accept a unilateral declaration, and we should do everything within our power to make sure that the international community does not accept it either.”