Question of Palestine – NAM communique

REPORT OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECLARATION ON THE GRANTING OF INDEPENDENCE

TO COLONIAL COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES

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THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

QUESTION OF PALESTINE

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Note verbale dated 2 June 1978 from the Permanent Representative

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

The Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations presents his compliments to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and has the honour to transmit herewith the Final Communique adopted at the Ministerial Meeting of the Co-ordinating Bureau of Non-Aligned Countries, held at Havana from 15 to 20 May 1978.

On instructions  from his  Government, the Permanent Representative would request the Secretary-General to have the Final Communique, which relates in particular to items 12, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 47, 58,  59, 94 and 95 of the preliminary list,  circulated as a single official document of the General Assembly.

ANNEX

Final  Communique

NOAL/BUR/C1/REV.3

The Co-ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Countries met at the Foreign Ministers level in the City of Havana., May 15 through 20, 1978 following the Co-ordinating Bureau Meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers in New Delhi in April 1977.  The Meeting provided an opportunity to examine the current international situation, to review progress in the implementation of the decision of the Fifth Summit as well as to commence preparations for the forthcoming Conference of Foreign Ministers to be held in Belgrade.  All these meetings play an important role in charting the course towards the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government to be held in Havana in 1979.

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MIDDLE EAST

26.  On examining the situation in the Middle East the Bureau reached the conclusion that since the question was considered in the Ministerial Meeting of the Bureau in New Delhi the tensions existing in the region had become more acute. The serious threat to world peace and security, which the meeting in New Delhi regarded as capable of provoking a fresh armed conflict, had regrettably been confirmed by the recent violation and occupation by Israel of a large part of the territory of Lebanon.

27.  The Bureau reiterated its conviction that the cause of that worsening situation continued to be Israel's policy of occupation and expansion and its stubborn refuse to comply with the principles established in the United Nations Charter and Resolutions.

28. After considering the developments in the Middle East situation that had taker place since its last meeting in April 1977 in New Delhi, the Bureau emphasized that the question of Palestine constituted the heart of the Middle East problem, and that the solution of the two problems was inseparable. The Bureau further stressed the need for safeguarding the intrinsic unity of the question of Palestine whenever it was examined together with the Middle East situation.

The Bureau considered that any effort to establish a just and lasting peace the Middle East must necessarily include the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories and the recognition of the Palestinian people's inalienable national rights.  It was also convinced that any solution failing to take those two basic conditions into account could not serve to further the cause of peace; on the contrary, it could but help to pave the way for the attempts by the United States of America to liquidate the question of Palestine and assist Israel in achieving its aims and to perpetuate the status quo ensuing from the occupation, thus enable it to fulfil its role as agent for imperialism and colonialism in the area.

29.  The Bureau reaffirmed the decisions adopted by the non-aligned countries at their meetings concerning the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East.  It noted that those decisions constituted a set of principles serving as a  basis for any attempt to achieve a just and lasting peace in the area.

The Bureau further noted that any attempt to undermine the struggle to have those principles applied was contrary to the resolve of the non-aligned countries to put an end to the occupation of Arab territories by Israel and to assist the Palestinian people to recover their inalienable national rights.

30. The Bureau paid tribute to the Palestinian people under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization in their resolute struggle for national independence and against imperialism and Israeli expansionism, and to the maintenance and strengthening of their forces in the face of Israeli aggression.  It also paid warm tribute to the people of the Arab countries who were fighting valiantly and persistently, foiling successive dangerous attempts of deception by imperialism, and frustrating the stubborn policy of the Israeli Zionists.

31. The Bureau considered that Israel's expansionist policy of annexing occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories continued, while expulsions, mass arrests, mistreatment and a systematic policy of plunder and exploitation of the Arab population in the illegally occupied territories were being intensified.

The Bureau categorically denounced Israel's exploitation of the natural wealth and resources of Palestine and other Arab occupied territories in contravention of provisions of the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions and called on all countries to take the necessary measures to prevent any co-operation with Israel that would facilitate such illegal exploitation by the Israeli occupation authorities.

32. The Bureau noted with grave concern and deplored statements made by certain leaders in the United States of America concerning repeated threats to use force against the oil-producing countries especially in the Arab Gulf area and their proposals concerning stand-by military contingents for intervention in that area.

33. The Bureau considered that the fundamental rights and freedoms continued to be denied to the Arab population of the occupied territories, and that religious freedom was restricted.  Israel was also intensifying its policy of colonization fostering and enlarging settlements in occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, with the evident aim of hindering the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East and of changing the physical, political, cultural, religious and demographic conditions of those territories. Israel not only illegally and wantonly exploited the Arab labour force, but also continued to violate their human rights, torturing and killing Arab prisoners.

34. The Co-ordinating Bureau expressed grave concern about the persistent violation of the human rights of the Arab population in all the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967- The Bureau condemned the Israeli authorities for their continuing refusal to allow the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories have access to the occupied territories and its policy of annexation of Arab land.

The Bureau expressed its complete support for United Nations Resolution 32/91 reaffirming the applicability of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 as applicable to all the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.

35. The Bureau stressed that the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the region could only be attained within the framework of a global solution, based on Israel's complete withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories and on the recovery land, exercise by the Palestinian people of their legitimate and inalienable national rights, including that of establishing a national and independent state in Palestine, and the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in any endeavours for the solution of the question of Palestine and the Middle East.

36. The Bureau confirmed that in the light of Israel's expansionist policy and ITS delaying tactics designed to perpetuate its illegal occupation of Arab territories the political, economic and military support given to Israel by the United States of America and other States was a matter of grave concern.

37. The Bureau condemned Israel's recent aggression in the south of Lebanon in flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of that country.  The Israeli invasion was aimed at occupying Lebanese territory by destroying Lebanese villages and cities, compelling Lebanese citizens to leave their homes and land, and crushing Palestinian resistance. The Bureau demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from all Lebanese territory, it also demanded the implementation of Security Council resolution 425 and called  for complete respect for the integrity of Lebanese territory and for the sovereignty, and independence of Lebanon within its recognized international borders.

The Bureau called upon the Security Council to consider the adoption of mandatory measures under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations in order to bring about the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Israel's forces of aggression from the internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Lebanon.

38. The Bureau called on all countries to lend their material and moral support  to the Arab States and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in its struggle to put an end to Israeli occupation of Arab territories.

39. The Bureau renewed the call for the suspension of all aid designed to augment the military potential of Israel and for the rejection of the changes that the Zionist State was trying to introduce in the region, altering its physical, demographic and economic condition.

40.  The Bureau condemned the Israeli military escalation in conventional arms and denounced its intentions of possessing nuclear weapons, as a serious threat to international peace and security and therefore called on all members of the Non-Aligned Movement at the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to Disarmament to endorse a proposal:

(a)  calling upon all States, in particular the United States of America, to  co-operate fully in effective international action, in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, to avert the grave menace to international peace and security caused by the continued escalation of Israeli armament;

(b) requesting the Security Council to call upon all States under Chapter of the Charter of the United Nations and irrespective of any existing contracts, to refrain from any supply of arms, ammunition, military equipment or vehicles, or any spare parts thereof, to Israel; to ensure that such supplies do not reach Israel through other parties and to end all transfer of nuclear equipment or fissionable material or technology to Israel.

4l. The Bureau also condemned Israel's growing military and economic ties with and the sale of arms to South Africa in its policy hostile to the African and Arab peoples, and noted with concern that the sale of Israeli manufactured arms to various countries, especially Guatemala and Nicaragua, strengthened the Israeli war industry.

QUESTION OF PALESTINE

42. The Bureau reaffirmed that the question of Palestine was at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East and condemned all the policies of the United States of America designed to ignore the legitimate inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and to impose partial settlements.

43.  The Bureau reiterated its grave concern that Israel's continued usurpation of Palestine, its flagrant denial of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, and the expansionist racist policy of the Zionist State, were being  intensified in flagrant defiance of the international community and in steady and increasing violation of the principles of the Charter and Resolutions of the United Nations and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

44.  The Bureau recalled that the Fifth Summit Conference in Colombo had stressed the need for the non-aligned countries to exert greater pressure on Israel in the United Nations and in all its specialized agencies and, in particular, had called ion the Security Council to take effective measures including those under Chapter VII of the Charter, to oblige it to comply with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations.  It observed with great concern that despite those actions the Zionist State had carried out further violations and aggressions which, like that perpetrated against Lebanon, had led to international condemnations. The Bureau considered it necessary to emphasize the gravity of the situation and to call for stronger and firmer action to halt Israel's policy of systematic aggression.

45.  The Bureau urged the Security Council to implement the measures necessary for 'implementing the recommendations in the reports of the United Nations Special Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at its thirty-first and thirty-second sessions and, in particular, the recommendations to enable the Palestinian people to attain and exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to return to their homes and property and their national right to self-determination and to establish their national independent State in Palestine.

46. The Bureau reiterated the decision of the Colombo Summit Conference asking all the non-aligned countries to pledge their support to the Palestinian people, in their struggle under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole legitimate representative, until they had fully recovered their inalienable national rights.

47. The Bureau called for the annual observance, commencing in 1978, of 29 November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

48.  The Bureau recalled that the Colombo Conference had reaffirmed that Zionism was a form of racism and racial discrimination and had called upon the non-aligned countries to bear that in mind in their participation in the World Conference to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination, to be held in August 1978.

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* A/33/50/Rev.l.