Excerpted from "Pinching The Palestinian Pocketbook"
(The Jewish Week) by James D. Besser

June 1, 2006

Congress, backed by a Jewish group devoted to the issue, is taking another crack at a resolution urging the administration to champion the cause of Jewish refugees from Arab countries as a counter to what some legislators say is the steady drumbeat of talk about Palestinian refugees.

This week resolutions were introduced in both Houses of Congress calling for U.S. diplomats to raise the issue of the hundreds of thousands of Jews displaced from Arab countries every time the issue of Palestinian refugees is raised in official settings.

The non-binding measure was promoted by B’nai B’rith International and Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. Key sponsors include Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on the Senate side and Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Rep. Michael Ferguson (R-N.J.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) in the House.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Santorum said that all refugees of the Arab-Israel conflict should be treated “on an equal footing. Numerous resolutions have condemned the plight of Arab and Muslim and Palestinian refugees, but have been remarkably silent on both the Jewish population that has been displaced from Arab countries — and, increasingly, Christian populations being displaced.”

Although the resolution merely expresses the sense of Congress on the issue, Nadler said it could prove important “when final status negotiations actually occur” and Israel and the Palestinians begin dealing with the explosive issue of refugees.

Congress is also getting set to weigh in on another Mideast issue: Jerusalem.

Last week Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) introduced a resolution marking the 39th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem — observed this year on May 25. A companion resolution is expected in the Senate.