Israeli practices/Golan – Letter from Syria

Letter dated 31 August 1998 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the

United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to draw your attention to the operation which Israel recently carried out in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.

On 26 August 1998 Israel fired flares over the area of 'Ain al-Tinah, inside the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, across from the occupied village of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan, setting fire to the areas of Ba'l al-Salikh and Mahjarah, located near the border strip.

The Syrian Arab Republic holds Israel responsible for these acts of provocation, which threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, as well as all other repressive and inhuman practices directed against the Syrian Arab citizens who remain under occupation in the villages of the occupied Syrian Golan and who are thus threatened with environmental destruction, injury and damage to their property, in flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and all the relevant resolutions of the United Nations.

I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under items 40 and 85, entitled "The situation in the Middle East" and "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories, respectively, of the provisional agenda, and of the Security Council.

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