Mideast situation/Palestine question – Communiqué of the Co-ordination Mtg. of FMs of OIC – Letter from Morocco (excerpts)

Note verbale dated 21 October 1986 from the Permanent Mission of Morocco

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

The Permanent Mission of Morocco to the United Nations presents its compliments to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and has the honour to transmit herewith the text of the final communiqué adopted at the Co-ordination Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held in New York on 2 October 1986.  It would be grateful if you could arrange to have it distributed as an official document of the General Assembly under agenda items 19, 22, 26, 33, 35, 36, 37 and 45, and of the Security Council.

ANNEX

Communiqué of the Co-ordination Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs

of the Organization of the Islamic Conference

New York, 2 October 1986

1. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Islamic Conference held their annual Co-ordination Meeting on Thursday, 28 Muharram 1407H, corresponding to 2 October 1986, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The meeting was presided over by His Excellency Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Filali, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco.

2. The Chairman of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, H.E. Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Filali, and the Secretary-General of the Islamic Conference H.E. S. S. Pirzada, made opening statements dealing with the important issues facing the Islamic world, which also formed part of the agenda of the forty-first session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

3. The meeting also heard a statement from the President of the United Nations General Assembly His Excellency Mr. Humayun Rasheed Choudhury, who touched upon the major issues confronting the Islamic world.  The Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Rafeeuddin Ahmed, speaking on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, welcomed the holding of the meeting at United Nations Headquarters, wished it success, and outlined the growing co-operation between the United Nations and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

4. The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait, His Excellency Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, informed the meeting that the dates for the Fifth Islamic Islamic had been finalized. He stated that the Preparatory Meeting of Foreign Ministers would be held from 23 to 25 January 1987, and the Summit meeting would commence from 26 January 1987.  The announcement was welcomed by all delegations.

5. Background notes on the question of the Middle East and Palestine, Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq war, South Africa and Namibia, and the critical economic situation in Africa, prepared by the General Secretariat of the Conference were submitted to the meeting. The meeting also had before it the reports of the Committee of Six on Palestine and the Ad Hoc Committee on Afghanistan, which had met in New York on 29 and 30 September 1986, respectively.

6. The meeting undertook an examination of the current international situation, dealing specifically with matters of direct concern to the members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in the light of the reports and

recommendations prepared by the Conference Committees on Palestine and Afghanistan and the background notes submitted to it.

7. The meeting approved the report of the Committee of Six on Palestine and the recommendations contained therein. It reiterated that in order to establish a just and durable peace in the area, Israeli forces must withdraw from all occupied Arab and Palestinian territories, including the Holy City of Jerusalem, and the Palestinian people must be allowed to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their right to return, their right to self-determination and their right to an independent and sovereign homeland in Palestine under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole and legitimate representative.

8. The meeting expressed deep indignation at the concerted campaign by Zionist elements aimed at the desecration and destruction of the Islamic holy shrines in the occupied territories, in particular in Jerusalem, and declared that such actions would not be tolerated by the Islamic world. It condemned the policy of the Zionist entity to usurp the land and properties of the Palestinian people, the blowing up of Palestinian houses, its threats of closure and other oppressive actions against the universities and institutes of learning of the Palestinian people, as well the building and expansion of Zionist settlements in the occupied Arab and Palestinian territories. These oppressive measures by the Zionist entity were aimed at undermining the national identity of the Palestinian people.

9. The meeting emphasized the importance of holding the International Peace Conference on the Middle East and reiterated its determination to adhere to the resolution of the General Assembly on this subject. The meeting was of the view that the members of the Islamic Conference should hold informal consultations among themselves and with other Members of the United Nations regarding the membership of the preparatory committee to be established for the International Peace Conference. Any efforts at attaching preconditions to the formation of the preparatory committee must be firmly resisted. Efforts must also be made to hold the International Peace Conference on the Middle East in 1987 on the basis of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

10. The meeting declared that the recent appointment of mayors in occupied Palestinian territories by the Zionist occupying power was an effort to establish an amenable alternative Palestinian leadership controlled by Israel in preparation for the Israeli campaign for bilateral negotiations. The move denied the right of Palestinian people to elect their own representatives even at the municipal level and was motivated by an intention to bypass the Palestine Liberation Organization, which enjoys the overwhelming support of the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine.

11. The meeting noted that Israel continues its attempts to make inroads into the continent of Africa. The recent resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel by Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon were cases in point. The decision by Côte d'Ivoire to establish its Embassy in Jerusalem was in violation of the resolutions of the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations on this issue. The meeting expressed grave concern over this trend and called upon member States to make efforts in the framework of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Organization of African Unity as well as bilaterally to reverse it.

12. The meeting appealed to member States to extend financial assistance to the Joint Palestinian-Jordanian Steadfastness Committee in the occupied Palestinian territories to enable it to continue its efforts to protect the holy places of Islam and to support the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

13. The meeting condemned the recent terrorist attack on a Jewish synagogue in Turkey and expressed the apprehension that this could be a precursor of Zionist intentions and actions against the Muslim holy places in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Jerusalem, particularly against the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

14. The meeting also requested all Islamic and other friendly countries to sign the letter to be addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations expressing reservations regarding the credentials of the representatives of Israel.

15. The representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization brought to the attention of the meeting the attacks which were in progress against Palestinian refugee camps in Rasheedia. The meeting decided to issue an immediate declaration condemning these attacks and calling for an immediate cessation of such attacks against the Palestinian refugees. The meeting requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations to intervene immediately to stop the attacks, ensure the protection of the camps, provide needed relief to the wounded and besieged people and to end the blockade. The text of the declaration by the Islamic Conference is annexed to this communiqué (see Appendix) .

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APPENDIX

APPEAL BY THE FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE ISLAMIC STATES

During the Co-ordination Meeting held at United Nations Headquarters on 2 October 1986, the Foreign Minister of the Islamic States were informed of the barbarous and continued aggression perpetrated by the Amal militias and Israel against the Palestinian refugee camps in South Lebanon, in particular against the Rasheedia camp.

While denouncing and condemning these attacks, the meeting launches an urgent appeal to the quarters exercising influence in Lebanon and to the Islamic parties of Lebanon to shoulder their responsibilities in order to stop the massacres of the Palestinians and to ensure full protection of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon against these attacks and to endeavour to bring them to an end.

The Islamic Conference requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations to intervene immediately so as to stop these aggressive actss to ensure necessary protection to the residents of these camps and provide the needed relief to the wounded and besieged people and to end the blockade.

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