GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL
Thirty-seventh session Thirty-seventh year
Item 31 of the provisional agenda*
QUESTION OF PALESTINE
Letter dated 20 September 1982 from the Chairman of the Committee on
the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to
the Secretary-General
As Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish to convey to you the Committee's horror and consternation at the atrocious, large-scale massacres in the Shatila and Sabra Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut.
This tragedy, which parallels the worst horrors perpetrated during the Second world War, must forever remain a blot on the conscience of mankind. It is, moreover, a direct consequence of Israel's invasion of Lebanon which had already caused the killing of thousands of unarmed civilians, including women and children.
Israel's armed interference in the affairs of a neighbouring country is to be strongly condemned. Peace in the region requires that Israel be compelled to withdraw from Lebanon and all the territories it has illegally occupied.
The Committee has repeatedly pointed out that incidents such as this latest massacre, as well as the repeated injustices in the illegally occupied Arab territories, would continue as long as the Palestinian people are prevented by Israel from exercising their inalienable rights in their own independent State. The responsibilities of the United Nations in this regard need no stressing.
Once again, I wish to draw your attention to the Committee's conviction that tragedies such as the world witnessed last Friday would have been avoided if the Security Council had taken positive action on the recommendations of the Committee which have repeatedly been endorsed by the General Assembly.
On behalf of the Committee I wish to urge once again, and in the strongest terms commensurate with the scale of the massacre, that appropriate action to implement the Committee's recommendations be taken by the Security Council without further delay.
I should be grateful if you would have this letter issued as a document of the General Assembly, under item 31 of the provisional agenda, and of the Security Council.
(Signed) Massamba SARRE
Chairman of the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights
of the Palestinian People
______________
*A/37/150.
Document Type: Letter
Document Sources: Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), General Assembly, Security Council
Subject: Agenda Item, Armed conflict, Arms control and regional security issues, Human rights and international humanitarian law, Inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, Incidents, Occupation, Palestine question, Refugee camps, Refugees and displaced persons, Statehood-related
Publication Date: 20/09/1982