Asad promised President Bush that Syrian Jews would be permitted to travel from Syria. Shortly before the U.S. election. however. Asad cut off emigration and is now permitting only 2 to 3 people to leave a week. This not only creates more divided families. but also flies in the face of the promises Asad made to the United States as well as international standards of human rights. Furthermore. as the Clinton administration continues to press for freedom of emigration. it appears that Asad is trying to get double credit for the release of Syrian Jews. This should not be rewarded. My amendment would maintain the prohibition on indirect aid to Syria until the President has certified to Congress that Syria does not deny its citizens or any segment of its population the right or opportunity to emigrate. This statutory language would condition aid to Syriain this case. indirect assistanceon freedom of emigration. it is consistent with a measure I authored in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the 1993 Foreign Assistance Act. section 531 of S. 1467. which restricted aid to Syria until the right of emigration for its citizens is secured. This is also a timely amendment. As the Middle East peace process fortunately moves forward. restrictions on those that make peace with Israel will be eased. For example. later this month we will vote on legislation to overturn several United States prohibitions on the Palestine Liberation Organizution [PLO] in the wake of its dramatic agreement with Israel. There are optimistic indications that Syria may be moving forward as well. However. since Syrian Jewish emigration is a universal human rights issueand not a topic within the framework of the Middle East peace process--I want to ensure that appropriate sanctions against Syria will remain in place so that the United States can maintain its leverage on this important issue.
Keywords matched
emigration emigrate