Mideast situation/Palestine question – OAU Council of Ministers decisions – Letter from Guinea-Bissau (excerpts)

COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS AND

THE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY

Letter dated 18 September 1997 from the Permanent

Representative of Guinea-Bissau to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to request that you arrange for the distribution as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 42, of the decisions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity at its sixty-sixth ordinary session, held at Harare from 28 to 31 May 1997 (annex I)* and the declarations and decisions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its thirty-third ordinary session, held at Harare from 2 to 4 June 1997 (annex II)*.

(Signed)  Alfredo Lopes CABRAL

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,

Permanent Representative of the Republic of

Guinea-Bissau and Chairman of the African

Group for the month of September

_______________

* The annexes are being circulated in the languages of submission only.

…/…

CM/Dec.359 (LXVI) – Report of the Secretary-General on the

Question of Palestine – (Doc.CM/2005 (LXVI)

Council:

(a) REAFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian people under the leadership of the PLO, to exercise their inalienable national rights, their right to return to their homeland, including their homes and property, self-determination and the establishment of an independent State on their national soil with East Jerusalem as

its capital in accordance with the principles and resolutions of the United Nations;

(b) EXPRESSES ITS DEEP CONCERN and CONDEMNS Israel's violation of the principles of peace and peaceful coexistence and its disregard for the principles on which the peace process is based;

(c) CALLS UPON Israel to immediately stop the practice of confiscating Palestinian lands, especially those in East Jerusalem and its environs and the expansion of settlements in violation of Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 465 and 478, which threatens to undermine the peace process:

(d) EMPHASIZES the need to implement General Assembly Resolution A/ES-10/1 adopted by its Special Emergency Session held on 25 April 1997 on the Status of Jerusalem and the need for Israel to end its illegal measures in the other occupied Palestinian territories;

(e) CALLS UPON Israel to immediately halt the construction work being carried out in Jebel Abou Ghoneim and URGES the countries that sponsor the peace process, the parties concerned and the international community at large to suspend all forms of assistance and support to the illegal activities being undertaken in occupied Palestinian territories;

(f) EMPHASIZES the need to preserve the territorial integrity of occupied Palestine lands, ensure the freedom of movement of persons and communities within the region and remove restrictions on entry to East Jerusalem and freedom of movement within the Palestinian territories in general;

(g) EMPHASIZES the Right of the Palestinian Refugees to return to their homes in accordance with the principles of human rights and international legitimate resolutions, especially UN General Assembly Resolution (194) and the Security Council Resolution (237);

(h) CALLS for the freezing of relations with Israel at their present level due to the gravity and urgency of the situation;

(i) FURTHER CALLS for the initiation of all possible measures to ensure Israel's adherence to the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference and the principle of land for peace and its full implementation of all the agreements and commitment entered into by the parties concerned during the peace talks;

(j) REAFFIRMS the urgent need to make Israel respect the principles of the International Humanitarian Law as stipulated in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 in the Palestinian territories which it has been occupying since 1967, including Jerusalem;

(k) REAFFIRMS that adherence to agreements and the international law is a sine

qua non for the maintenance of international peace and security.  CALLS for the strict implementation of the peace agreements and URGES the countries that sponsor the peace process, the parties concerned and the international community as a whole to deploy all possible efforts to revamp the peace process and ensure its success.

CM/Dec.360 (LXVI) – Report of the Secretarv-General on the Situation

in the Middle East – (Doc.CM/2006 (LXVI))

Council:

(a) RECALLS all the relevant resolutions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and Council of Ministers on the Situation in the Middle East;

(b) REAFFIRMS that the Question of Palestine is the core of the struggle in the Middle East and that there can be no just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East unless Israel withdraws from all occupied Palestinian and Arab lands, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and Southern Lebanon

and unless the Palestinian people are allowed to exercise their inalienable national rights in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, especially Resolutions 242, 338, 465, 478 and 425, based on the principle of Land for Peace;

(c) CALLS for the initiation of all possible measures to ensure Israel's adherence to the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference and the principle of land for peace and its full implementation of all the agreements and commitments entered into by the parties on all tracks during the peace talks;

(d) URGES the United Nations General Assembly and the international community to ensure complete Israeli compliance with UN and International Atomic Energy Agency resolutions on the use of nuclear installations only for peaceful purposes, to force Israel to allow international inspection of its nuclear installations and to draw the attention of the Security Council and International Atomic Energy Agency to the actual and potential threat posed by radiation leakage from the Dimona reactors in the absence of international inspection;

(e) REAFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT for the proposal of H.E. President Hosni Mubarak to declare the Middle East a region free of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction;

(f) URGES all States of the region that have not yet signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, to desist from manufacturing, producing, testing or possessing nuclear weapons; to sign the treaty, and to place their nuclear installations under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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