Mideast situation/Palestine question – OAU decisions – Letter from Ghana (excerpt)

Letter dated 3 August 2000 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to request that you arrange for the distribution as a document of the General Assembly, under item 27 of the provisional agenda, of the decisions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity at its seventy-second ordinary session, held at Lomé from 6 to 8 July 2000 (annex I), and the declarations and decisions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its thirty-sixth ordinary session, held at Lomé from 10 to 12 July 2000 (annex II).**

(Signed) Leslie Kojo Christian

Chargé d’affaires a.i.

Permanent Mission of Ghana to the United Nations

Chairman of the African Group for the month of August

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CM/Dec.528 (LXXII)

DECISION ON THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

CM/2167 (LXXII)

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Secretary-General on the Question of Palestine;

2. RECALLS UN Resolutions on Jerusalem, in particular General Assembly Resolutions 181, 303 and 54/27 and Security Council Resolutions 242, 252, 465, 476 and 478 and CALLS for the respect of these resolutions;

3. REAFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their right to return to their homes, recover their property, self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on their national soil, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the principles of international law and other pertinent resolutions of the UN;

4. RECOGNIZES the binding character of UN Security Council Resolution 237 which CALLS for the return of Palestinians displaced in 1967; as well as other relevant instruments, in particular UNGA Resolution 194 (1948) which provides for the Return of Palestinian refugees to their Homes and Property; and CALLS UPON Israel to respect and carry out its obligations. It FURTHER CALLS for the establishment of a UN sponsored Commission to ensure the fulfillment of the process of return;

5. COMMENDS the progress made in the Israel-Palestine Peace process, including the signing on 4 September, 1999, of the Sharm-El-Sheikh Memorandum between Israel and the PLO;

6. EXPRESSES CONCERN that the deadline of 13 February, 2000, set in the Sharm-El-Sheikh Memorandum for the conclusion of a framework agreement lapsed without the realization of the goal and principles to withdraw Israeli troops from occupied Palestinian land, the establishment of the Northern safe passage route, the release of all political prisoners and the implementation of economic commitments;

7. HAILS the PLO leadership for the patience and wisdom demonstrated and its continued commitment to the achievement of a comprehensive peace;

8. CALLS UPON the present Israeli leadership which has so far taken positive steps to consolidate the peace process, to recommit itself in earnest to the path of dialogue and negotiation, as well as to put an end to the policy of expanding and establishing new Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law and international humanitarian law as well as the letter and spirit of Agreements reached;

9. AFFIRMS the need to maintain and respect the deadline of September 13th 2000, to reach a Permanent Status Agreement and SUPPORTS the realization of the establishment of the independent sovereign State of Palestine on Palestinian soil with East Jerusalem as its Capital;

10. CALLS UPON Israel to implement previously negotiated Agreements and URGES the Parties to intensify their peace efforts aimed at seeking a just, peaceful and lasting solution to the conflict as well as realizing the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people thereby ensuring comprehensive and lasting peace, security and stability in the region.

CM/Dec.529 (LXXII)

DECISION ON THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST –

(CM/2168 (LXXII))

Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in the Middle East;

2. RECALLS all the relevant resolutions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity on the Middle East situation which affirm that the Palestinian Question is the core of the Middle East conflict and that no comprehensive, just and lasting peace can be established unless Israel withdraws from all the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and unless the Palestinian people exercise their inalienable national rights in accordance with UN resolutions, in particular Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 465, 478 and General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947, and on the basis of the land-for-peace formula;

3. CALLS for an initiative that will take all the necessary-measures that will guarantee Israel's compliance with the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference and the land-for-peace principle and its full implementation of all the agreements and commitments undertaken on all tracks of the peace process;

4. URGES the United Nations and the International Community to guarantee Israel's full compliance with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency that stipulate the use of Israel's nuclear installations for peaceful purposes and compel it to open its nuclear installations to international inspection. The Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency warned of the grave threats that may be posed by radiation leaks from the Daemona reactor, in the absence of international inspection;

5. REAFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT for the proposal made by President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of the Arab Republic of Egypt to declare the Middle East an area free of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction;

6. URGES the Government of Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to refrain from the manufacture, production, testing and possession of nuclear weapons and to place its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive   safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency;

7. CALLS for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and Syria, on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338 and the tenets of the Peace Process established at the Madrid Conference;

8. URGES all the parties concerned to resume the negotiations in order to create the necessary conditions for lasting peace in the region;

9. TAKES NOTE of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from South Lebanon and the efforts deployed by the United Nations to restore normalcy to that region.

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*A/55/150 and Corr.1 and 2.

**The annexes are being circulated in the languages of submission only.