Situation in the OPT – NAM Coordinating Bureau statement – Letter from Cuba

    Letter dated 17 January 2008 from the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

  In my capacity as Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Movement, I have the honour to enclose herewith the statement of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, adopted on 17 January 2008 (see annex).

  As you are aware, the achievement of a comprehensive, just, lasting and peaceful settlement in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question and the exercise by the Palestinian people of their inalienable right to self-determination in their independent and sovereign State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, constitutes a long-standing principled position of the Non-Aligned Movement.

  In this regard, the Movement kindly calls your attention to the recent military assaults by Israel against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, and it is confident that you will respond to this dangerous situation in the most appropriate way, in line with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the rules and principles of international law.

  Furthermore, I kindly request that the present letter and its annex be circulated as a document of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session, under agenda items 17 and 18, and of the Security Council.

(Signed ) Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz

Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations

Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement

    Annex to the letter dated 17 January 2008 from the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

    Statement of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem

  The Non-Aligned Movement condemns the recent military assaults by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the killing of 19 Palestinians and the serious wounding of 50 other people, as well as in widespread destruction of civilian property and farmlands. The situation is of grave concern to the Non-Aligned Movement, for such illegal actions by Israel have caused the death of more than 150 Palestinian civilians, including children and women, during the past month and a half.

  This violent military escalation by Israel constitutes a grave breach of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, fuels the cycle of violence and threatens international peace and security and the fragile peace process between the two sides. Moreover, such actions exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip, where the civilian population continues to be collectively punished under a crippling siege.

  The Non-Aligned Movement calls upon the international community, especially the Security Council, to shoulder its responsibilities and to call upon Israel, the occupying Power, to immediately cease its violations and to comply with its obligations under international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, as the occupying Power in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

  The Non-Aligned Movement expresses its solidarity with the Palestinian people during this critical period and reaffirms its long-standing principled positions calling, inter alia, for an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and other Arab lands occupied since 1967 and the establishment of an independent State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.

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