Situation in the OPT/Deportees in southern Lebanon – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL

Forty-seventh session Forty-seventh year

Agenda item 30

QUESTION OF PALESTINE

Letter dated 17 December 1992 from the Chairman of the

Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of

the Palestinian People to the Secretary-General

In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish to draw your most urgent attention to the mass expulsion orders issued yesterday by the Israeli authorities, and to call for an immediate end to the policy of deportation by Israel, the occupying Power.

According to a Reuters dispatch issued today, as well as to press releases by the Gaza Centre for Rights and Law and the Palestine Human Rights Information Centre, on 16 December the Government of Israel, in a closed ministerial session, took the unprecedented step of ordering the summary deportation of 418 Palestinians from the occupied territory for two years, apparently as punishment for the recent killing of a kidnapped Israeli soldier.  It is to be noted that the Palestinians, alleged to be activists with Islamic groups, have not been formally charged with any offence.  This move comes in the wake of mass arrests of approximately 2,000 Palestinians in the last three days, as well as the imposition of a total round-the-clock curfew on the Gaza Strip, and the sealing of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as closed military zones.  It is also reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross was not informed of the deportation decision, and that restrictions have been imposed on the ability of the deportees to appeal the orders against them.

The same reports indicate that the 418 Palestinians, whose names have not been released, have been taken to the northern border of Israel in anticipation of their deportation into southern Lebanon, and are now waiting, blindfolded and handcuffed, in buses pending a court ruling in Jerusalem.

In light of this very grave situation, the Committee addresses an urgent appeal to you, as well as to all those concerned, to take all necessary measures to induce Israel, the occupying Power, to desist forthwith from deporting the 418 Palestinians and to cease its policy of collective punishments against Palestinians in the occupied territory, in accordance with its obligations under the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and numerous Security Council resolutions.

The Committee considers that, in the absence of concrete progress in the peace process, tension and violence will continue to increase in the occupied Palestinian territory.  The Committee renews its call for international protection to be accorded Palestinians living under occupation and for an intensification of efforts by all concerned towards the achievement of a just and lasting settlement.

I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 30, and of the Security Council.

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