Expressing the sense of Congress and reaffirming longstanding United States policy in support of a direct…

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Expresses the sense of Congress that:

• a sustainable peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians will come only through direct bilateral negotiations between the parties;
• any widespread international recognition of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood outside of the context of such a peace agreement would cause severe harm to the peace process and would likely trigger the implementation of penalties under provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 regarding limitations on assistance to support a Palestinian state and uses of funds for assistance for the West Bank and Gaza;
• efforts by outside bodies, including the United Nations Security Council, to impose an agreement are likely to set back the cause of peace; and
• the U.S. government should continue to oppose and veto Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues or that are one-sided and anti-Israel, and should continue to support and facilitate the resumption of negotiations without preconditions toward a sustainable peace agreement.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov