Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois House Bill HR0213 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
4	4	2 WHEREAS, The United Nations General Assembly recommended
5	5	3 on November 29, 1947 to partition Palestine into two states
6	6	4 against the wishes of Palestine's majority indigenous
7	7	5 inhabitants; and
8	8	6 WHEREAS, This partition plan nevertheless provided for the
9	9	7 "Full protection for the rights and interests of minorities,
10	10	8 including the protection of the linguistic, religious and
11	11	9 ethnic rights of the peoples and respect for their cultures,
12	12	10 and full equality of all citizens with regard to political,
13	13	11 civil and religious matters"; and
14	14	12 WHEREAS, Before the State of Israel declared its
15	15	13 independence on May 14, 1948, there were already between
16	16	14 250,000 to 300,000 Palestinian refugees who were expelled or
17	17	15 fled from their homes, often after attacks by Zionist militias
18	18	16 on major Palestinian cities and villages; and
19	19	17 WHEREAS, By the time the war ended with the signing of
20	20	18 armistice agreements between Israel and neighboring Arab
21	21	19 countries in 1949 that established Israel's sovereignty over
22	22	20 78% of Palestine and, in the process, conquered an additional
23	23	21 23% of Palestine beyond those areas allocated to the Jewish
24	24	22 state under the partition plan, there were at least 750,000
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33	33	1 Palestinian refugees, approximately 75% of the indigenous
34	34	2 population that had lived in areas that became Israel; and
35	35	3 WHEREAS, By 1949, Israel had depopulated more than 400
36	36	4 Palestinian villages and cities, often demolishing all
37	37	5 structures and planting forests or repopulating them with
38	38	6 Jewish Israelis; and
39	39	7 WHEREAS, Palestinians refer to this experience of
40	40	8 uprooting, dispossession, and refugeedom as the Nakba, meaning
41	41	9 "catastrophe" in English; and
42	42	10 WHEREAS, The Nakba refers not only to the historical event
43	43	11 but also to an ongoing process of Israel's expropriation of
44	44	12 Palestinian land and its dispossession of the Palestinian
45	45	13 people that continues to this day through the establishment
46	46	14 and expansion of approximately 300 illegal settlements and
47	47	15 outposts in the occupied Palestinian West Bank in which
48	48	16 approximately 674,000 Israelis reside as of 2020; and
49	49	17 WHEREAS, The United States knew of the scale and magnitude
50	50	18 of the Palestine refugee crisis as it unfolded as is
51	51	19 documented in an October 1948 telegram to the President and
52	52	20 Secretary of State from the United States Embassy in Israel
53	53	21 warning that the "Arab Refugee tragedy is rapidly reaching
54	54	22 catastrophic proportions and should be treated as a disaster";
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65	65	1 and
66	66	2 WHEREAS, The United States voted in favor of United
67	67	3 Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 on December 11, 1948,
68	68	4 which states that Palestinian "refugees wishing to return to
69	69	5 their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be
70	70	6 permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that
71	71	7 compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing
72	72	8 not to return and for loss of or damage to property which,
73	73	9 under principles of international law or in equity, should be
74	74	10 made good by the governments or authorities responsible"; and
75	75	11 WHEREAS, Palestinian refugees' right of return is not only
76	76	12 stipulated in a General Assembly resolution but is also
77	77	13 anchored in international law and in Article 13 of the
78	78	14 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states "Everyone
79	79	15 has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to
80	80	16 return to his country"; and
81	81	17 WHEREAS, On December 8, 1949, the United Nations General
82	82	18 Assembly adopted Resolution 302 establishing the United
83	83	19 Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the
84	84	20 Near East, which the United States has financially supported
85	85	21 on an almost continuous basis since its establishment; and
86	86	22 WHEREAS, Of the more than 7,000,000 Palestinian refugees,
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97	97	1 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
98	98	2 Refugees in the Near East provides much-needed social services
99	99	3 to 5,700,000 Palestine refugees today; and
100	100	4 WHEREAS, International law also recognizes that
101	101	5 descendants of refugees retain their rights as refugees, and
102	102	6 according to the United Nations, "Palestine refugees are not
103	103	7 distinct from other protracted refugee situations such as
104	104	8 those from Afghanistan or Somalia, where there are multiple
105	105	9 generations of refugees, considered by UNHCR as refugees and
106	106	10 supported as such. Protracted refugee situations are the
107	107	11 result of the failure to find political solutions to their
108	108	12 underlying political crises"; and
109	109	13 WHEREAS, A just and lasting resolution requires respect
110	110	14 for and the implementation of Palestine refugee rights as
111	111	15 enshrined in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194
112	112	16 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; therefore, be
113	113	17 it
114	114	18 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
115	115	19 HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
116	116	20 we recognize the Nakba; and be it further
117	117	21 RESOLVED, That we reject efforts to enlist, engage, or
118	118	22 otherwise associate the United States Government with denial
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129	129	1 of the Nakba; and be it further
130	130	2 RESOLVED, That we encourage education and public
131	131	3 understanding of the facts of the Nakba, including the United
132	132	4 States' role in the humanitarian relief effort and the
133	133	5 relevance of the Nakba to modern-day refugee crises; and be it
134	134	6 further
135	135	7 RESOLVED, That we support the provision of social service
136	136	8 to Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and
137	137	9 Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East; and be it
138	138	10 further
139	139	11 RESOLVED, That we support the implementation of
140	140	12 Palestinian refugees' rights as enshrined in United Nations
141	141	13 General Assembly Resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration
142	142	14 of Human Rights.
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