Mideast situation/Palestine question – Letter from Egypt

LETTER DATED 20 MAY 1985 FROM THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF EGYPT

TO THE UNITED NATIONS ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

I have the honour to transmit herewith the text of a letter addressed to you by the Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations dated 15 May 1985.

I would be grateful It you arrange that this letter be circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ahmed T. KHALIL

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

ANNEX

Letter dated 15 May 1985 from the Permanent Observer of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations

addressed to the President of the Security Council

With reference to United Nations endeavours to achieve a comprehensive, just and durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict through a just solution to the question of Palestine on the basis of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant United Nations resolutions, I am requested by Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to forward to you the enclosed text of the memorandum presented to United States Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs, Mr. Richard Murphy, on 16 April 1985, by Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

(Signed)  Zehdi Labib TERZI

Permanent Observer

Enclosure

Memorandum presented to Mr. R. Murphy, Assistant Secretary of

State for Middle Eastern Affairs

Jerusalem, 16 April 1985

The American Administration has practised the habit of sending official as well as non-official envoys to the Middle East on various missions, at times defined as being fact-finding missions and at other times defined as being missions aimed at advancing the peace procedure or of availing themselves of peace opportunities.

This same Administration has also taken as a habit to ask its representative in the Middle East region, particularly in the occupied Arab territories, to arrange meetings with personalities from Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, in order to hear their views, considering them to be the views of the sons of the Palestinian people in the occupied Arab territories.

More than often we did meet with these envoys and exposed the views of our people asking them to transmit them to the American Administration, to the White House, to the State Department or any other Department.

But despite these numerous encounters we have not felt any change in the American position.

The American Administration maintains its refusal to recognize the right at our people to self-determination and refuses to talk to the Palestine Liberation Organization, while our people have repeatedly reaffirmed that the Palestine Liberation Organization is their sole legitimate representative and holds the exclusive right to represent them and to talk in their name.

The pursuance of this American position will not serve the interests of peace in the Middle East and will have negative repercussions, not only on the people of this region, but also on the American and European interests in the Middle East.

The time has come tor the American Administration to review its policies and previous commitments towards the other party, especially those that do not carry any real value any more.

Therefore we put before you the following facts and we request you to present them to the officials in your country, mainly to President Ronald Reagan:

1. The sons of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories are an  indivisible part of the Palestinian people of whom one third lives here and the two thirds in the diaspora, and any settlement to the Palestinian question has to consider the question as a whole and not only the population in the occupied territories.

2. The question of Palestine is a political national question as expressed by the determination of the Palestinian people to regain their national rights, and first and foremost, their right to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent Palestinian State in their homeland, in addition to their right to choose those who represent them without any form of pressure of subordination from anyone.

3. Our people have, on more than one occasion, inside and outside the occupied homeland, reaffirmed that they have chosen the Palestine Liberation Organization as their sole legitimate representative and they consider this choice to be the practice of one of their basic rights.

4. Dealing with and direct dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization is the only means to lead the Arabs on the right path and opens the way to chances for the achievement of peace.

5. We support fully and totally the position of the Palestine Liberation Organization, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, and we demand that dealings be conducted through it in matters related to the Palestinian question.

6. We demand that the American Administration act immediately in order to put an end to the Israeli practices in the occupied Arab territories, particularly the settlements and the confiscation of the land as well as the violations of human rights and the efforts to annihilate the patriotic spirit of the young generation of our people.

We request you to transmit our point of view to your Administration.

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