Jerusalem – OIC Al-Quds Committee final statement – Letter from Morocco

Letter dated 25 January 2002 from the Permanent

Representative of Morocco to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the Final Statement of the Al-Quds Committee issued by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which met under the chairmanship of His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, on 25 January 2002 at Marrakesh, Morocco (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would have this letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 42, and of the Security Council.

Annex to the letter dated 25 January 2002 from the Permanent Representative

of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic, English and French]

Final Statement

of 19th Session of the Al-Quds Committee

Marrakech  –  January 25, 2002

Upon a gracious invitation from His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Sovereign of the Kingdom of Morocco, chairman of Al-Quds committee, the latter held its nineteenth session in Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco, on Friday 11 Dul Quida 1422 (25 January 2002) to examine the serious and critical situation through which the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Shareef are going as a result of the continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the attempts of the Israeli Government to cripple the Palestinian Authority.

The meeting recorded the forced absence of the Palestinian President His Excellency Yasser Arafat due to the arbitrary decision taken by the Israeli authorities to restrain his movements.  Attending the session were their Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, as well as the delegations of States that are members of the Committee and the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

His Majesty Mohammed VI, Chairman of Al-Quds Committee delivered an opening speech in which he stressed the solidarity of the Muslim Ummah with the Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership represented by the National Palestinian Authority.

His Majesty also underlined the fact that the present difficult circumstances through which the Palestinian issue is going require adhering to realism and having a good sense of responsibility. His Majesty then appealed to the human consciousness and the international community to put an end to the sharon's arrogance and take the kind of action that would spare the region and the whole world tragedies while they can overcome them.

His Majesty also reaffirmed that the Muslim Ummah is committed to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace, one that will enable the Palestinian people to recover its legitimate rights and establish its independent state with Al-Quds Al-Shareef as its capital.

M. Farouk Kaddoumi the minister of Foreign Affairs of the state of Palestine delivered the message of President Yasser Arafat to His Majesty and the heads of the delegations participating in the session.

President Arafat invited the participants to forward a clear message on behalf of the Islamic States, to the whole world exhorting it to work towards ending the war that Israel is waging against the Palestinian people, providing international protection to the Palestinian people and creating an international mechanism that would oblige Israel to abide by international legality and the signed agreements, terminate its occupation and dismantle settlements as that would constitute the ultimate guarantee for the achievement of peace and security in the region.

The members of the Committee, under the Chairmanship of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, started their deliberations concerning the present situation, after which they issued the following appeal to the international community.

1- The Committee commends the responsible measures taken by the Palestinian leadership as expressed in its commitment to a unilateral ceasefire.

The Committee highly appreciates the self-restraint of the Palestinian Authority despite the unabated ferocious Israeli aggression directed against it and reaffirms its support to the resistance of the Palestinian people and their blessed Intifadah.

The Committee stresses that the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East was and remains the main objective of the member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, on the basis of the United Nations resolutions and the principle of "Land for Peace".

2- The Committee expresses its condemnation of the escalation with which Israel responds to the Palestinian appeasement measures, and reminds their international community that the continuation of the Israeli occupation is the cause of the explosive situation in the region as it was directed at besieging the headquarters of President Yasser Arafat, who was duly elected by the Palestinian people, and restrain his movement, demolishing houses, displacing hundreds of families, killing children and destroying the basic infrastructure and Palestinian institutions, in addition to assassinations, blockades and closures.

3- The Committee reaffirms that the Islamic states are active actors of the international community and its institutions and will not remain silent.

They will use all the opportunities available within international institutions to put an end to the Israeli aggression and to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.

4- The Committee calls upon the United States, as the sponsor of the peace process, to take immediate and firm action to oblige Israel to halt its aggression against the Palestinian people, and reaffirms that Israel's behaviour is likely to trigger reactions at a time of global consensus reached in the aftermath of the criminal acts perpetrated on September 11th against innocent civilians and institutions in the United States of America.  The world has indeed reached an agreement concerning the eradication of terrorism and its causes with a view to ensuring stability and security in the world.

5- The Committee expressed its support to all efforts and initiatives aimed at achieving a just and comprehensive peace that guarantees security and stability of the region, and enables the Palestinian people to enjoy all its rights including its right to establish an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Shareef as its capital.  In this connection, the Committee reiterates its opposition to any attempt by Israel to undermine the foundations of peace embodied in the principle of "Land for Peace", international legality and the agreements concluded between the National Palestinian Authority and previous Israeli governments.

6- The Committee invites the international community to assume its responsibilities vis-à-vis the serious and blatant violations against the Palestinian people, and calls upon the Security Council, in particular, to carry out its duties concerning the maintenance of international peace and security by virtue of the United Nations Charter, and adopt a resolution calling for the immediate deployment of a multinational force for the protection of the Palestinian people. The Council should also work towards the implementation of its resolutions so as to preserve its credibility as a United Nations organ.

7- The Committee notes that the Israeli Government has not responded to any appeal or attempt from international mediators.

It has, instead, continued to ignore the rules of international law, the decisions and resolutions of the United Nations as well as the signed agreements. The Committee is of the view that the issue must be brought back to the Security Council in order to enable this organ to assume its responsibility.

In view of the serious and explosive situation prevailing in the occupied territories, a situation that threatens peace in the whole world, it has become imperative for the international community to assume its responsibility by exercising pressure on Israel so that it halts its aggression, withdraws its forces immediately from the Palestinian zones, lifts the siege on the headquarters of the Palestinian president, and takes the necessary measures to achieve peace in the region in order to create the conditions that are conducive to the revival of the peace process and to the resumption of negotiations between the two parties without any preconditions.

All, these measures should be accompanied and supported with deployment of international observers to supervise the implementation of the Mitchell Report and Tenet's Plan, through a clearly defined mechanism and according to a precise timetable.

The Committee is convinced that the ending of the practices and illegal measures of the occupying Israeli authorities would create conditions conducive to the return to calm, and the resumption of negotiations from the point at which they were interrupted, and would contribute to the concretization of the call of President Bush and his Secretary of State for the establishment of the independent Palestinian state in conformity with Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.

The Committee expresses its deep appreciation and gratitude to His Majesty Mohammed VI, Sovereign of the Kingdom of Morocco, for his relentless endeavours, at the Arab, Islamic and international levels, for the support of the cause of Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Shareef, and for convening this important session in Marrakech.

The Committee also expresses its thanks and appreciation to the Government of his Majesty and the Moroccan people for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to the participating delegations.

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