Mideast situation/Palestine question – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 29 March 1985 from the Chairman of the Committee on

the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People addressed to

the Secretary-General

In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish to draw your attention to recent policy statements made by Israeli Government officials concerning the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and the Jerusalem Post reported on 21 March 1985 that Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin assured Jewish settlers in the Katif region in the Gaza Strip that the region "in any event, must remain an inseparable part of the State of Israel".  He also reportedly stated that the territory "geographically has always been part of the Biblical Land of Israel".

A similar statement with regard to the Jordan Valley was attributed to Prime Minister Shimon Peres.  Ha'aretz of 22 March 1985 reported that the Prime Minister had assured settlers in the area that the Jordan Valley was an inseparable part of the State of Israel.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is gravely concerned at such statements which are yet a further confirmation of the policy of annexation of the occupied territories by the Government of Israel.

I wish therefore to reiterate the Committee's view that such a policy is a violation of Israel's obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and the fourth Geneva Convention and of numerous resolutions of the United Nations, and that it endangers peace and security in the region and undermines international efforts to facilitate a peaceful solution.

In conclusion, I would like to request that this letter be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under item 33 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

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*    A/40/50 and Corr.l.

 85-09126 1512s (E)