Situation in the OPT – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 15 January 1985 from the Chairman of the Committee on

 the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People addressed

 to the Secretary-General

As Chairman of the Committee oh the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, it is my obligation to bring to your attention still further action being taken by the Government of Israel in its continuing policy of annexing the occupied territories of the West Bank.

The New York Times of 11 January 1985 reports that sites for six new Jewish settlements were approved by the Israeli Government on 10 January 1985.  Two of the approved sites are in the northern part of the West Bank, two in the Hebron area and one each in the Jordan Valley and the Jerusalem area.  An official in the settlement department of the World Zionist Organization, which promotes the settlements, has said that each one would cost $1 million.  The Committee has noted that, as on previous occasions, there was public and parliamentary questioning of the decision within Israel itself.

It has also come to the attention of the Committee that the daily newspaper Ha'aretz, in its issue of 31 December 1984, reported that the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Israel, Mr. Yitzhak Shamir, had requested the establishment of 20 new settlements in the occupied territories in addition to the six already approved.

As you are aware, Sir, during the past six years, some one hundred new settlements were established in the occupied territories notwithstanding the illegality of such action, the censure of international opinion and numerous resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly.  May I recall, in this connection, that in its resolution 465 (1980), adopted unanimously on 1 March 1980, the Security Council strongly deplored the continuation and persistence of Israel in pursuing those policies and practices and called upon the Government and people of Israel to rescind those measures, to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.

As on previous occasions, this information is being communicated to you in order that you may be kept aware of the persistent activities taken against the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, and in order to express the concern of the Committee regarding constant violations of Palestinian rights, United Nations resolutions and the Geneva Convention of 1949.

Accordingly, I should be grateful if you would be so good as to have this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under the item entitled "Question of Palestine", and of the Security Council.

85-01072  1661c (E)