Assistance to the Palestinian people – Letter from Iraq

Letter dated 1 March 2001 from the Permanent Representative of Iraq

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a letter dated 28 February 2001 from Mr. Tariq Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq. The letter concerns the dispatch of hundreds of truckloads of relief supplies to the Palestinian people and the fact that the Zionist occupation authorities have refused to allow these supplies to enter the Palestinian territory. This refusal to allow humanitarian supplies to enter reveals the extremes to which the Zionist authorities are prepared to go as they persist in their repression of the Palestinian people and in forcing that people to submit to their will.

In his letter, the Minister reaffirms the requests made to you by the Iraqi Government to make every effort to facilitate the passage of the trucks in question into occupied Palestine and to intervene with the Security Council in order to urge it to approve the annex to the phase IX procurement and distribution plan that relates to the requirements of the Palestinian people.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Mohammed Al-Douri

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 1 March 2001 from the Permanent Representative of Iraq

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I refer to the numerous letters addressed to you on the subject of the Government of Iraq’s decision to send foodstuffs and medicines to the Palestinian people, the most recent of which was that dated 20 February 2001 (S/2001/162, annex).

The purpose of the Government of Iraq’s decision was to mitigate the acute human suffering of the fraternal Palestinian people caused by the constant and daily campaigns of repression and the blockade imposed on the inhabitants of the occupied territories by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Accordingly, the Government of Iraq has sent hundreds of truckloads of foodstuffs and medical items to the Palestinian people overland through Jordanian territory. The trucks are, however, still being held at the Jordanian border, and the occupation authorities have not thus far allowed them to enter the Palestinian territory. The refusal of the Zionist occupation authorities to allow these humanitarian supplies to enter reveals the extremes to which these authorities are prepared to go as they persist in their repression of the Palestinian people and in forcing it to submit to the will of the Zionist entity and renounce its legitimate right to establish an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Government of Iraq reaffirms its request that you make every effort necessary to facilitate the passage of the Iraqi trucks carrying foodstuffs and medicines that are being held at the Jordanian border into the West Bank in occupied Palestine. It also requests you to intervene with the Security Council in order to urge it to approve the annex to the procurement and distribution plan under phase IX of the memorandum of understanding, that is to say the annex relating to the requirements of the Palestinian people, so that the relevant Iraqi authorities may begin as soon as possible to conclude contracts for the purchase of foodstuffs and medicines and of the other humanitarian requirements of the fraternal Palestinian people.

(Signed) Tariq Aziz

Deputy Prime Minister

Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs