S. 1 --- The "No Eating the Pizza Act" of 2019

Whereas, starting in 1993, the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) exchanged mutual letters of recognition, and signed agreements generally referred to as "The Oslo Accords" in which was established a five-year period of transition and negotiations leading to the full resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict;

Whereas, in those Accords, it was specified that permanent status negotiations would begin no later than three years after the signing date of May 4, 1994, and further agreed that the permanent status issues to be resolved in those negotiations would be "Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, and borders."

Whereas, rather than a comprehensive peace agreement having been reach by the five year date, May 4, 1999; it is now 18 years beyond the agreed end-date, and the peace process, with fits and starts, limps along, but comprehensive resolution is not at hand;

Whereas, during the 25 year period since the White House signing, Israeli settlements have continued to grow and grow, both in size and population;

Whereas, today there are some 430,000 Israelis living in over 150 West Bank settlements;

Whereas, this process was deliberately undertaken for the purpose of preventing the emergence of an independent Palestinian state;

Whereas, this project of "creating facts on the ground" continues to push on, and indeed threatens to destroy the two-state option;

Whereas, without a Palestinian state, the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination will continue to be violated;

Whereas, without a Palestinian state, the population under the authority or control by the State of Israel will include 6.5 million Palestinians, with1.8 million being citizens of Israel and 4.7 million in the West Bank and Gaza.

Whereas, already many Palestinians are calling for abandoning the two-state option and are calling for full equality within the one-state reality that they say already exists between the River and the Sea;

Whereas, further continuation of this process ensures that Israel will have to abandon its claim to be a democracy or alternatively, through the extension of equal rights, including the right to vote, will find itself no longer a Jewish state;

Whereas, the continued expansion of settlements during the extended 25 year period of negotiations, has been likened, among the Palestinian public, to a situation in which "We are negotiating over a Pizza, while they are eating it."

Whereas, this process has served to discredit the moderate Palestinian leadership which has participated, with fits and starts, in this 25 year effort a negotiations;

Whereas, during this period the United States has provided Israel with over $75 billion dollars of foreign aid;

Whereas, because of the fungibility of resources, this high level of American assistance has indirectly facilitated the vast Israeli settlement project, including settlements, roads and infrastructure;

It is hereby decided that starting immediately, the United States will adhere to a "No Eating the Pizza" policy, and:

A sum of money, out of US aid funds authorized for Israel, equal in amount to that which Israel expends on any expansion, whether in size or population, on settlements in the West Bank, shall be sequestered, and not released to the Government of Israel, until such time as it either a) enacts a full and comprehensive ban on all settlement expansion, or b) concludes a negotiated agreement on this issue with the Palestinians.

Within 45 days, the Department of State will provide to the appropriate Congressional committees for review and comment, detailed procedures for the implementation of this policy.