[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1110 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1110
Supporting the announcements of the establishment of full diplomatic
relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and
the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 15, 2020
Mr. Engel (for himself and Mr. McCaul) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the announcements of the establishment of full diplomatic
relations between the State of Israel and the United Arab Emirates and
the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain, and for other purposes.
Whereas, on August 13, 2020, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and
Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme
Commander of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced an agreement to
normalize relations between their two countries, and Israel agreed to
suspend planned annexation in parts of the West Bank;
Whereas, on September 11, 2020, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa announced the establishment of
full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain;
Whereas support for peace between Israel and its neighbors has long-standing
bipartisan support in Congress and among the American people;
Whereas the UAE is the first Gulf Arab state to announce formal relations with
Israel, followed by Bahrain;
Whereas the normalization agreements are intended to have strategic benefit for
participating countries and can be mutually beneficial for important
sectors such as investment, finance, health, civil space, civil
aviation, foreign policy and diplomatic affairs, and tourism and
culture;
Whereas following the agreement, the UAE formally abolished its boycott law,
allowing UAE companies and individuals to trade directly with Israel;
Whereas these agreements could pave the way for future peace or normalization
agreements between Israel and other Arab and Muslim countries;
Whereas the parties pledged to continue their efforts to achieve a just,
comprehensive, and enduring resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict;
Whereas the agreements build upon the decades-long leadership of the United
States in helping Israel broker peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan and
promoting peace talks between Israel and Syria, Lebanon, and the
Palestinians;
Whereas the United States played a pivotal role in brokering both agreements,
which follow years of diplomacy between the United States, Israel, the
United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other partners, encouraging
cooperation between Israel and Gulf countries;
Whereas in 2015, Israel opened a diplomatic-level mission to the International
Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, UAE;
Whereas in 2018, after an Israeli athlete won first place in an international
judo tournament in Abu Dhabi, the Israeli national anthem publicly
played for the first time in the UAE;
Whereas in 2019, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE,
proclaimed the year 2019 to be ``The Year of Tolerance'' in the UAE, and
during 2019, the UAE announced the construction of the Abrahamic Family
House in Abu Dhabi, which will house a mosque, a church, and a synagogue
and the appointment of the first chief rabbi of the UAE;
Whereas the UAE is set to host the World Expo in 2021, and in 2019 event
organizers in Dubai invited Israel to participate;
Whereas in 2009, Bahrain's crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa urged
Arab countries to ``move toward real peace now by consulting and
educating our people and by reaching out to the Israeli public to
highlight the benefits of a genuine peace.'';
Whereas when former president Shimon Peres died in 2016, Bahrain was the only
Gulf country to publicly mourn his death;
Whereas in 2018, then Foreign Minister of Bahrain Khaled bin Ahmed al Khalifa
tweeted in Arabic that Israel ``has the right to defend itself'' and
said, ``we do believe that Israel is a country to stay, and we want a
better relation with it, and we want peace with it.'';
Whereas in order to ensure the sustainability of state-to-state normalization,
the agreements should be followed by greater people-to-people
normalization; and
Whereas in 2008, Congress enacted legislation (Public Law 110-429) amending the
Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.) to require that any
certification to Congress relating to a proposed United States arms sale
``to any country in the Middle East other than Israel'' must include a
``determination that the sale or export of such would not adversely
affect Israel's qualitative military edge over military threats to
Israel'': Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the August 13, 2020, announcement of the
establishment of full diplomatic relations between the State of
Israel and the United Arab Emirates and suspension of Israeli
actions to apply sovereignty in parts of the West Bank;
(2) supports the September 11, 2020, announcement of the
establish of full diplomatic relations between the State of
Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain;
(3) calls on the governments of the State of Israel, the
United Arab Emirates, and the Kingdom of Bahrain to encourage
greater people-to-people normalization in order to facilitate
sustainability of the 2020 state-to-state normalization
agreements;
(4) calls on other Arab and Muslim countries to establish
full relations with Israel with the vision of realizing full
peace between Israel and all of its neighbors;
(5) reaffirms its strong support for the United States
requirement that a proposed sale or export of defense article
or defense services must be determined not to adversely affect
Israel's ability to counter and defeat any credible
conventional military threat from any individual state or
possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while
sustaining minimal damages and casualties, through the use of
superior military means possessed in sufficient quantity,
including weapons, command, control, communication,
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities
that in their technical characteristics are superior in
capability to those of such other individual or possible
coalition states or non-state actors, consistent with section
36(h) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)); and
(6) reaffirms its strong support for a negotiated solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulting in two states--a
democratic Jewish State of Israel, and a viable, democratic
Palestinian state--living side-by-side in peace, security, and
mutual recognition.
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