CEIRPP meeting – Summary record

COMMITTEE ON THE EXERCISE OF THE INALIENABLE

RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 24th MEETING

Held at Headquarters, New York,

on Monday, 12 September 1977, at 10.30 a.m.

Chairman:  Mr. FALL (Senegal)

CONTENTS

Chairman's meeting in Beirut with Mr. Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the Executive

Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization

Organization of work

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     This record is subject to correction.

     Corrections should be submitted in one of the working languages, preferably in the same language as the text to which they refer.  They should be set forth in a memorandum and also, if possible, incorporated in a copy of the record.  They should be sent within one week of the date of this document to the Chief, Official Records Editing Section, Department of Conference Services, room A-3550.

     Any corrections to the record of this meeting and of other meetings will be issued in a corrigendum.

The meeting was called to order at 11.20 a.m.

CHAIRMAN'S MEETING IN BEIRUT WITH MR. YASIR ARAFAT, CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE

COMMITTEE OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION

1.   The CHAIRMAN reported that, in response to the invitation conveyed by the Observer for the Palestine Liberation Organization at the 23rd meeting, he had had consultations in Beirut with the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and other officials of that organization.  Owing to time constraints, he had unfortunately been unable to accept invitations to visit Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

2.   In Beirut he had met a number of officials of the PLO and had had a two-hour discussion with Mr. Arafat.  It had emerged from those meetings that the PLO was very familiar with the work of the Committee and valued its support of the cause of the Palestinian people.  The PLO's views with regard to the Committee's report (A/31/35) were generally quite favourable, despite the fact that in some instances the report was not entirely consistent with its position.  The PLO felt that the report, while not entirely satisfactory, was a major step forward and that it would have served a useful purpose if the Security Council considered and adopted its recommendations or if it acquired the status of a working document for future deliberations.

3.   In response to questions concerning the intentions of the Committee, he had explained that the Committee felt that, as matters stood, its main priority should be to induce the Security Council to comply with the provisions of General Assembly resolution 31/20, in particular paragraph 4.  Ideally, members of the Security Council should adopt a resolution in support of the report, a step which the Committee would welcome as a contribution to progress in achieving a just solution of the Middle East problem.

4.   He had also visited some Palestinian camps in southern Lebanon and had found that the area was not fully at peace; on one occasion he had heard the sound of bombing further to the south, probably near the Israeli frontier.

ORGANIZATION OF WORK

Preparations for the Security Council meeting to consider the recommendations of the

Committee

5.   The CHAIRMAN said that one of the problems in connexion with the Security Council's consideration of the Committee's report was that of timing.  Several high-level meetings of intergovernmental organizations concerned with the question of Palestine had been scheduled for the coming weeks, concurrently with the General Assembly session, and the Council should be aware of any conclusions reached by those organizations.  The most important thing was that a date for the Council's meeting should be fixed and announced, and the Committee should therefore contact the Council immediately to remind it of its duty under paragraph 4 of General Assembly resolution 31/20.  He suggested that he should be authorized to send a letter to that effect to the President of the Security Council and to request that the letter should be distributed as a Security Council document.

6.   The Committee's position on the issue was that, in resolution 31/20, the General Assembly had urged the Security Council to consider once again the Committee's report; it had also authorized the Committee to promote the implementation of its recommendations.  It was in pursuance of that authorization that he had in March 1977 had discussions with the President of the Security Council and with the representatives of the five Western Council members concerning the Committee's report and the Council's failure to act on it.  Despite promises made by those representatives that their Governments would express their views on the Committee's report, nothing had been heard from those Governments, and the Council had still not met to reconsider the Committee's report.  Apparently, the position of those Governments at the moment was that they would not express their views on the report until it was formally resubmitted to the Security Council.

7.   Since all of the Governments in question had at one time or another expressed their views on all the matters referred to in the Committee's report and its recommendations, he felt that the Security Council could profitably consider the report.  Furthermore, since the report was made up essentially of decisions and resolutions of the United Nations, it should create no difficulty for members of the Security Council; the Security Council could hardly reject a report based essentially on resolutions which had been endorsed by all the States concerned. Israel, it would be remembered, had agreed, on being admitted to membership of the Organization, to accept all earlier United Nations resolutions, including resolution 181 (II), on the future government of Palestine, and resolution 194 (III), which had established the right of return of refugees.  Those resolutions could not be implemented in a selective fashion, as Israel was attempting to do.

8.   Mr. GAUCI (Malta) informed the Committee that the task force had held formal meetings and had also had informal consultations concerning the date for the Security Council meeting.  The general consensus was that informal contacts should continue and that the task force should promote as wide an exchange of views as possible while preparing its recommendations as to what matters should be brought to the notice of the Security Council.  New developments, including certain recently announced administrative measures in the occupied Territories, would naturally be taken into account by the task force.

9.   Mr. CAMARA (Guinea) expressed the view that the Chairman should again contact the members of the Security Council, especially the five Western members, and request them to prepare statements of their views on the Committee's report so as to facilitate the forthcoming discussion in the Council.

10.  Mr. TERZI (Observer for the Palestine Liberation Organization) said that the Committee had a duty to remind the Security Council of the stipulations of General Assembly resolution 31/20.  The recommendations contained in the Committee's report to the General Assembly at its thirty-first session (A/31/35) had been endorsed by the General Assembly, and it was difficult to see how the Security Council could reject them.  He supported the idea that the President of the Security Council should be asked to set a date for the further consideration of the report by the Council, in consultation with members of the Council and the Chairman of the Committee.

11.  Mr. ALLAF (Observer for Syrian Arab Republic) said that the Committee should resubmit its report to the Security Council.  In doing so, the Committee should emphasize that the report had been endorsed by the General Assembly and therefore represented the wishes of the overwhelming majority of that body.  Furthermore, since the report had first been discussed, many developments had taken place, particularly in the positions of certain countries, which were likely to produce more constructive discussion of the report by the Council.  The report should be submitted to the Security Council, if possible, before the opening of the thirty-second session of the General Assembly and should be considered by the Council before the question of Palestine was taken up by the General Assembly.  The exact date for consideration of the report should be decided by the President of the Council, in consultation with Council members and the Chairman of the Committee.

12.  Mr. DATCU (Romania) supported the views expressed by the Chairman.  In addition to the action suggested by the Chairman, it might also be advisable to request the Secretary-General to have the proposed letter to the President of the Security Council distributed as an official document of the General Assembly.  He agreed that the timing of the Security Council's meeting to reconsider the report should be decided by the President of the Security Council, in consultation with the members of the Council and the Chairman of the Committee.

13.  The CHAIRMAN said that, if he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee agreed that he should write to the President of the Security Council asking him to convene a meeting of the Council to reconsider the Committee's report (A/31/35) promptly, so as to enable the Committee to report on the outcome of the Council's consideration to the General Assembly; that he should emphasize in his letter that the report had been endorsed by the General Assembly and draw attention to the Committee's mandate under paragraph 5 of General Assembly resolution 31/20, and that he should request that the letter should be distributed as an official document of the Security Council and of the General Assembly.

14.  It was so decided.

Report of the Committee to the General Assembly

15.  Mr. GAUCI (Malta), Rapporteur, informed members that he had prepared a draft outline of the Committee's second report to the General Assembly.  The outline had been translated into all official languages and was being circulated informally to members of the Committee in preparation for discussion of the report at a later meeting.  A number of paragraphs would have to be added to cover the current and any further meetings of the Committee, together with any new recommendations that it might make.

The meeting rose at 12.25 p.m.