Situation in the OPT/Illegally occupied Arab territories/Israeli settlements/Policies – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 15 October 198l from the Chairman of the Committee on

the Exercise of 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 refer to the most recent news reports concerning the establishment by Israel of new settlements in the illegally occupied Arab territories.  According to these reports, Simha Ehrlich, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Settlements, is said to have revealed that the Israeli Government is preparing to establish four new settlements and to expand and "strengthen" the existing settlements.

The pursuit of this policy, which is aimed at changing the demographic character of the occupied territories, in violation of the fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 1/ and in spite of international public opinion and the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council, shows once again that Israel's persistence in this attitude constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

It is of the greatest importance that the United Nations and especially the Security Council should, as a matter of urgency, take energetic steps to protect the international community against the dangers to which it is exposed by the attitude of Israel, which defies world public opinion and international law.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for this letter to be issued as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 31, and of the Security Council.

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1/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973, p. 287

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