Situation in the OPT – Statement by Tunisia President – Letter from Tunisia

DOCUMENT S/19454*

Letter dated 26 January 1988 from the representative

of Tunisia to the Secretary-General

[Original: French]

[26 January 1988]

I have the honour to transmit the text of a statement issued on 22 January 1988 by the Office of the President of the Republic of Tunisia on recent developments in the occupied Arab territories.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for distribution of the text of this letter and the attached statement as a document of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ahmed GHEZAL

Permanent Representative of Tunisia

to the United Nations

*circulated onder the double symbol A143/109-S/19454.

ANNEX

Statement dated 22 January 1988 issued

by the Office of the President of Tunisia

The President of the Republic of Tunisia, Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is following the Israeli occupying army's acts of bloody repression and high-handed behaviour towards the unarmed Palestinian inhabitants of the occupied Arab territories with keen interest and grave concern.

Hailing this brave uprising, through which the Palestinian people is giving a fine example of resistance and struggle while paying new tribute in innocent martyrs, the President reaffirms Tunisia's firm and active solidarity with its Palestinian brethren in the occupied territories. He strongly condemns the carnage, the deportations and the inhuman acts committed by the Israeli occupying army, which represent a flagrant violation of international conventions and agreements, an affront to moral values and a disregard for the most elementary human rights.

Reiterating its recent appeal to world public opinion, Tunisia again urges the intemational community to speed the adoption of strong measures to end the sufferings of the Palestinian people and permit the convening of an intemational peace conference, in order to arrive at a solution which will restore to these people their lawful national rights to freedom, dignity and the establishment of an independent State in their territory.

The change that has taken place in the kind of resistance and struggle offered illustrates the renewed ability of the Palestinian people to fight and their unwavering commitment to their inalienable historical rights, which the despoilers are striving to obscure by every means of domination and oppression available.

Today, more than ever before, consciences must awaken and good will assen itself to ensure the adoption of effective, practical measures that will affect the course of events directly and challenge Israel's stubbornness and refusal to comply with international law and the resolutions of the United Nations.