Joint Resolution Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Israel's Founding
(April 28, 1998)
In April 1998, the House and Senate both unanimously passed H.J.Res.102 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the State ofisrael and reaffirming the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the United States and Israel. The measure was introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos [D-CA] and was signed into law [Public Law 105-175] by President Bill Clinton on May 11, 1998.
H.J.Res.102
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
Joint Resolution
Expressing the sense of the Congress on the occasion
of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel
and reaffirming the bonds of friendship and cooperation between the
United States and Israel.
Whereas on November 29, 1947, the United Nations General
Assembly voted to partition the British Mandate of Palestine, and through
that vote, to create the State of Israel;
Whereas on May 14, 1948, the people of Israel proclaimed
the establishment of the sovereign and independent State of Israel and
the United States vernment established full diplomatic relations with
Israel;
Whereas the desire of the Jewish people to establish
an independent modern State of Israel is the outgrowth of the existence
of the historic Kingdom of Israel established three thousand years ago
in the city of Jerusalem and in the land of Israel;
Whereas one century ago at the First Zionist Congress
on August 29 to 31, 1897, in Basel, Switzerland, participants under
the leadership of Theodore Herzl affirmed the desire to reestablish
a Jewish homeland in the historic land of Israel;
Whereas the establishment of the modern State of Israel
as a homeland for the Jews followed the slaughter of more than six million
European Jews during the Holocaust;
Whereas since its establishment 50 years ago, the modern
State of Israel has rebuilt a nation, forged a new and dynamic society,
and created a unique and vital economic, political, cultural, and intellectual
life despite the heavy costs of six wars, terrorism, international ostracism,
and economic boycotts;
Whereas the people of Israel have established a vibrant
and functioning pluralistic democratic political system including freedom
of speech, a free press, free and fair and open elections, the rule
of law, and other democratic principles and practices;
Whereas, at great social and financial costs, Israel
has absorbed hundreds of thousands of Jews from countries throughout
the World, many of them refugees from Arab countries, and fully integrated
them into Israeli society;
Whereas for half a century the United States and Israel
have maintained a special relationship based on mutually shared democratic
values, common strategic interests, and moral bonds of friendship and
mutual respect; and
Whereas the American people have shared an affinity
with the people of Israel and regard Israel as a strong and trusted
ally and an important strategic partner: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
United States
(1) recognizes the historic significance of the
50th anniversary of the reestablishment of the sovereign and independent
modern State of Israel;
(2) commends the people of Israel for their remarkable
achievements in building a new state and a pluralistic democratic
society in the Middle East in the face of terrorism, hostility and
belligerence by many of her neighbors;
(3) reaffirms the bonds of friendship and cooperation
which have existed between the United States and Israel for the
past half-century and which have been significant for both countries;
and
(4) extends the warmest congratulations and best
wishes to the State of Israel and her people for a peaceful and
prosperous and successful future.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
Sources: Library of Congress |