Settlements/Illegal occupation – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

UNITED NATIONS

SECURITY COUNCIL

Distr.

GENERAL

S/12377

 29 July 1977

ENGLISH

ORIGINAL:  FRENCH

LETTER DATED 28 JULY 1977 FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE

EXERCISE OF THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

On 26 July 1977, the Prime Minister of Israel decided officially to approve the establishment of three Israeli settlements at Camp Kadum, Ofra, and Ma'ale Adumim, situated on the West Bank of the Jordan, which Israel has been illegally occupying since June 1967.

In this connexion it is my duty, as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to express to you my deep concern regarding this decision, which is completely incompatible with the recommendations contained in the Committee's report, which – I would recall – were endorsed by the General Assembly at its thirty-first session.  I am referring here in particular to the recommendations made in paragraph 72 (c) and (d) of the Committee's report (document A/31/35), which request Israel to desist from the establishment of new settlements in the occupied Arab territories and to withdraw from settlements established since 1967.  

In addition, I should like to draw your attention to the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister's decision constitutes a violation of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of General Assembly resolutions 3525 (XXX) and 31/106, of Security Council resolutions 237 of 14 June 1967 and 252 of 21 May 1968, and of the statements made on behalf of the Security Council by its President at the 1922nd meeting, on 26 May 1976, and the 1969th meeting, on 11 November 1976.

The official approval of the establishment of Israeli settlements cannot therefore have any leagl validity and in fact merely aggravates the tensions in the region, artificially erects an additional obstacle to the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and undermines efforts to promote a just and lasting settlement of the Middle East problem.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for this letter to be circulated as a document of the Security Council.