Mideast situation/Lebanon – Letter from Lebanon

Letter dated 29 July 1993 from the Permanent Representative

of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the          

Secretary-General

In reference to the letter dated 28 July 1993 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine (A/48/284-S/26191), I would like to state the following.

Lebanon appreciates the concern expressed by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization over what is happening to the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, who are suffering along with the people of Lebanon under Israel's brutal onslaught.  Lebanon shares its feelings and is as concerned for these refugees as it is for its own citizens.

However, Lebanon cannot accept that the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization has taken it upon itself to call for immediate consideration of this matter by the Security Council.  Lebanon has already requested an urgent meeting of the Council, which is its exclusive right.  No party other than the Government of Lebanon and its Permanent Representative to the United Nations can call on the Council to discuss the issue of Israel's aggression against Lebanon.  This subject falls expressly within the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the Lebanese Government.

The request of the Permanent Observer of Palestine, although well intended, constitutes an interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation and State Member of the United Nations.

I should be grateful if you would have this letter circulated as a document of the forty-seventh session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 35, and of the Security Council.

(Signed)  Khalil MAKKAWI

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

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*Reissued for technical reasons.