Middle East Peace Act of 2009 II (Awaiting Presidential Signature/Veto)

[HappyWarrior]

Middle East Peace Act of 2009 II

Preamble

The Senate recognises the difficulties in negotiating a peaceful settlement in favour of a two nation solution to the Israeli/Palestine conflict.

The Senate acknowledges that at present thirty six nations do not recognise the State of Israel. These include all members of the Arab league with the exception of Jordan and Egypt.

Therefore;

1a. The Senate extends to the Arab League an offer that should Israel and the Palestinian Authority agree to a two nation solution, under the terms of the Middle East Peace Act of 2009, the Arab League should in return recognise and support the agreed solution in return for a negotiated trading deal involving member states of the League.

b. This offer shall take the form of regional talks chaired by representatives from Atlasia, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan and representatives from the European Union with the invitation to attend extended to all member states of the Arab League

c. Any nation that will not recognise nor extend diplomatic relations to the State of Israel and/or refuses to formalise and reinstate diplomatic relations with the Republic of Atlasia shall be exempt from the material outcome of any talks.

(d) Optional: Due to violence and racial genocide in the Darfur region, Sudan will be excluded from the material outcome of any talks

2 a. Talks will focus on an agreement to suspend tariffs between signatory nations, a targeted increase in aid from Atlasia to these nations and formalisation of a free trade agreement.

b. Conditions relating to the recognition of the State of Israel, counter terrorism measures, the cessation of state sponsorship and funding of terrorist groups and efforts to enhance the democratic process within the civil and political sphere will be tabled, discussed and enforced.

3. Any agreement reached in respect of informal free trade shall not be seen to infringe or replace the conditions within the exisitng free trade agreements with Morocco, Bahrain, Israel, Oman, Jordan and Kuwait.

4. Upon conclusion of these talks, any agreement reached shall will be presented to the Senate for it's discussion and approval.

Sponser: Franzl

[DownWithTheLeft]

I see no reason to force these nations to recognize Israel

[Franzl]

I see no reason to force these nations to recognize Israel

But we aren't...we're simply giving these nations the opportunity to gain something out of doing it, meaning economic ties with Atlasia. Certainly some of these countries would like free trade agreements with us, and we don't have much to lose out of it.

Furthermore, it would give Palestine a much greater incentive to recognize Israel if they weren't the only ones, as they receive significant aid from several Arab countries that do not recognize Israel.

This bill makes sense, and I only see potential gains. Free trade has always been a great contributor to peace, and I don't see why you would oppose this.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     If this bill leads to more free trade then I'm all for it.

[Franzl]

     If this bill leads to more free trade then I'm all for it.

It might, who knows? But as said, it won't restrict free trade. If we're lucky, it will create more free trade. Can't really go wrong, can it?

[DownWithTheLeft]

Don't we already have free trade agreements with many of these countries anyway?  Would there current ones be revoked?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Don't we already have free trade agreements with many of these countries anyway?  Would there current ones be revoked?

     No, they wouldn't.

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[DownWithTheLeft]

Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait have FTAs FTR

[MasterJedi]

Oman should be removed from the list because unfortunatly a past Senate repealed it.

But I'll support this.

[HappyWarrior]

I can not accept this if it will give rise to more free-trade agreements.

[Lief 🗽]

Frankly, I think there are many more important things to ask of these countries than merely recognizing Israel in exchange for a free trade agreement. Democratization, liberalization, civil rights, etc.

I also don't get why we're excluding Iran.

[Purple State]

I think more definite benefits need to be gained from this kind of meeting. We need to let these nations know that we are actually expecting to solve these issues, not simply discuss them in hopes of future talks. I would hate for this to turn into another Annapolis meeting.

[Franzl]

I think the original purpose of this was to give Palestine greater motivation to recognize Israel and comply with the conditions laid out in the first Middle East Peace Act.

Considering that they receive far more aid from other Arab countries than they do from Atlasia....it was (correctly) suggested that it would be quite difficult to get them to meet our demands if they have more to lose by following through than to gain.

This should provide other nations in the region incentives to also recognize these conditions...and simultaneously make the previous peace act more likely to succeed.

Note that we're not agreeing to any specific deals here...and that we're only initiating talks at this point.

[afleitch]

Oman should be removed from the list because unfortunatly a past Senate repealed it.

But I'll support this.

That was my error in drafting the bill. Apologies. Well spotted

I think the original purpose of this was to give Palestine greater motivation to recognize Israel and comply with the conditions laid out in the first Middle East Peace Act.

Considering that they receive far more aid from other Arab countries than they do from Atlasia....it was (correctly) suggested that it would be quite difficult to get them to meet our demands if they have more to lose by following through than to gain.

This should provide other nations in the region incentives to also recognize these conditions...and simultaneously make the previous peace act more likely to succeed.

Note that we're not agreeing to any specific deals here...and that we're only initiating talks at this point.

Exactly. The purpose for and the reasons behind this bill were first adressed in the first Middle East Peace Act; that Palestine really would have more to loose than gain, by virtue of it's relationships with the Arab world, aid et all, by agreeing to the terms of the first Act. Otherwise I don't see how on earth our offer could have any effect without addressing this. This bill is designed to facilitate talks before it does anything else. It is up to the Senate to take this further if it wishes to.

[MasterJedi]

No debate on this in awhile, I motion for cloture.

[HappyWarrior]

On the motion for cloture:

AYE

By the way on whether I will vote AYE or not on the final vote, will this strengthen or create free trade agreements?

[MasterJedi]

Aye

It'll improve relations, whether it will ever make free trade agreements that's up to the Senate. The Senate has to pass any free trade agreements so it's not like this bill will really do anything besides help relations.

[Јas]

No debate on this in awhile, I motion for cloture.

The predisposition towards cloture votes in this Senate is interesting. In this case, for example, no cloture motion was necessary as the bill was more than 72 hours on the floor and hadn't been debated in over 24 hours, so a final vote could simply have been called.

[Associate Justice PiT]

No debate on this in awhile, I motion for cloture.

The predisposition towards cloture votes in this Senate is interesting. In this case, for example, no cloture motion was necessary as the bill was more than 72 hours on the floor and hadn't been debated in over 24 hours, so a final vote could simply have been called.

     Yeah, this was useless. I guess it brought attention though as it might have been ignored for a few more days otherwise.

     Aye.

[Lief 🗽]

Nay, I think Iran needs to be invited as well. They're a major player in the Middle East and it's important that we at least reach out to them and get on board. Sorry I didn't introduce an amendment about this sooner, but it slipped my mind.

[Franzl]

Aye

[DownWithTheLeft]

Aye on cloture only

[Bacon King]

Nay, echoing Lief.

[Franzl]

we need more votes

[Franzl]

we need more votes

anybody out there?

Smid, Realisticidealist, and SPC need to vote on cloture.