Illegal Israeli actions in OPT/Expulsion of Jerusalem PLC members/Gaza blockade/Settlements – Statement by PA Council of Ministers – Letter from Palestine

Identical letters dated 22 June 2010 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the

United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  I have the honour to transmit herewith the statement of the Council of Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, that was issued at the Council’s fifty-third meeting on 21 June 2010 (see annex).

  I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 5, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Riyad Mansour

Ambassador

Permanent Observer

Annex to the identical letters dated 22 June 2010 from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

Palestinian National Authority

Government Media Centre

Office of the Prime Minister

21 June 2010

    Statement issued by the Council of Ministers at its fifty-third meeting 

 •   The Council of Ministers strongly condemned the Israeli Government’s decision to withdraw the identification documents of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem and to expel those members from the city

 •   The Council called for the lifting of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the stationing of international observers alongside Palestinian National Authority personnel at border crossings

 •   The Council deplored settlement activity in Jerusalem and called for the intervention of the Quartet and the United States of America to halt such activity

  At its meeting held today under the leadership of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the Council of Ministers stressed that it fully supported the call of the Executive Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization that the siege of the Gaza Strip should be lifted completely in order to allow the free and unconditional movement of goods, materials and necessities into the Gaza Strip, including building materials and materials required for economic and agricultural development. The Council of Ministers welcomed the Executive Council’s resolution calling for the stationing of international observers alongside the competent authorities of the Palestinian National Authority at border crossings with Israel in order to ensure the lifting of the siege and the implementation of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access, which includes provisions on a secure corridor between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Ministers also welcomed the Executive Council’s call for measures aimed at ensuring the geographical unity of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and freedom of movement between the two territories, as well as the right of Palestinians living in both parts of the country to communicate with one another and with the outside world.

   The situation on the ground

  The Council of Ministers reiterated its strong rejection and condemnation of the Israeli Government’s decision to withdraw the identification documents of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem and to expel those members from the city. The Israeli Supreme Court recently upheld the decision to deport one of those parliamentarians on grounds of disloyalty to the State of Israel, thereby setting a dangerous precedent. The Council of Ministers emphasized that the deportation order and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold that order are violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Council of Ministers called on Israel to rescind that decision immediately and to comply with international law and United Nations resolutions that consider East Jerusalem an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. The Council of Ministers strongly condemned the Israeli Government’s decision to build 1,600 new units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in occupied Jerusalem and the ongoing attempts to demolish several houses in the Bustan quarter of the town of Silwan. The Council of Ministers affirmed that those repressive measures and dangerous actions required the intervention of the United States of America and the international community to bring them to a halt. The Council of Ministers emphasized that the efforts of the United States and the Quartet to restart the peace process would succeed only with the immediate cessation of settlement-building activity. It also emphasized that the borders of the State of Palestine should follow the borders of 4 June 1967 in preparation for the establishment of security arrangements between the State of Palestine and Israel and for talks on all permanent-status issues, including, inter alia, Jerusalem, refugees and water. The Government supported the Executive Council’s position that indirect peace talks would be meaningless without Israel’s commitment not only to the two-State solution but also to the terms of reference of the peace process, as set forth in United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

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