Arab Peace Initiative – LAS Summit – Letter from Lebanon (excerpts)

Letter dated 24 April 2002 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the

Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit to you the attached letter from Amre Moussa, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States (annex I), enclosing the resolutions, final communiqué and other texts adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States at its fourteenth session, held at the summit level in Beirut on 27 and 28 March 2002 (see annex II), and requesting that this letter and its annexes be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 41 and 42, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Houssam Asaad Diab
Chargé d’affaires a.i.
Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations
Head of the Fourteenth Session of the Council of the
League of Arab States at the Summit Level

Annex I to the letter dated 24 April 2002 from the Chargé d’ affaires a.i. of the

Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic]

Further to my letter dated 31 March 2002 enclosing the text of the Arab Peace Initiative, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the texts of the resolutions and other documents adopted by the Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States at its session held in Beirut on 27 and 28 March 2002, with the request that they be circulated to Member States.

I should also like to take this opportunity to assure you once again of my commitment to continued cooperation and coordination between our two organizations in performing their respective roles in the maintenance of international peace and security.

(Signed) Amre Moussa
Secretary-General

    Annex II to the letter dated 24 April 2002 from the Chargé d’ affaires

a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the

United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic]

Summit-level Council of the
League of Arab States

Fourteenth regular session
Beirut, Lebanon
27 and 28 March 2002 

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Reaffirming the decision of the extraordinary Arab summit conference held in Cairo in June 1996 that a just and comprehensive peace is a strategic choice for the Arab States to be achieved in accordance with international legality and to require an equivalent commitment in this regard on the part of Israel,

Having heard the statement in which His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, presented his Initiative and called for Israel’s full withdrawal from all the Arab territories that have been occupied since 1967, in implementation of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) as confirmed by the 1991 Madrid Conference and the principle of land for peace, and for its acceptance of the emergence of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital in return for the establishment by the Arab States of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel,

Proceeding from the conviction of the Arab States that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for any of the parties,

1. Requests Israel to re-examine its policies and to incline towards peace and declare that a just peace is also its own strategic choice;

2. Further calls upon it:

(a) To withdraw fully from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, and from the territories in southern Lebanon that are still occupied;

(b) To arrive at a just and agreed solution to the Palestine refugee problem in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III);

(c) To accept the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State in the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital;

3. Undertakes that the Arab States shall then:

(a) Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict at an end and enter into a peace agreement between them and Israel while achieving security for all the States of the region;

(b) Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace;

4. Guarantees the rejection of all forms of Palestinian resettlement, which is incompatible with the special situation in the Arab host countries; 

5. Urges the Government of Israel and all Israelis to accept the foregoing Initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and spare further bloodshed, thus enabling the Arab States and Israel to live side by side in peace and ensuring for generations to come a secure future in which stability and prosperity can prevail;

6. Invites the international community and all its constituent States and organizations to support this Initiative;

7. Requests the Chairman of the summit to form a special committee, to include interested member States and the Secretary-General of the League, to pursue the necessary contacts to gain support for this Initiative at all levels and in particular from the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the Islamic countries and the European Union.

(Summit resolution 14/221, adopted on 28 March 2002)

/…

Question of Palestine, and recent developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict:

(a)   Subventions to the budget of the Palestinian National Authority and to the Al-Aqsa Fund and the Al-Quds Intifadah Fund

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Having considered:

The recommendation made by the Ministerial-level Council of the League of Arab States in its resolution 6153 of 10 March 2002;

And the proposal of the Secretary-General of the League,

 Decides :

1. To invite the Arab States to grant the budget of the Palestinian National Authority a subvention in the total amount of 330 million United States dollars, to consist of 55 million dollars a month for six months beginning on 1 April 2002, automatically renewable for a further six-month period in the event that the Israeli aggression should continue and the need of the Palestinian National Authority for the subvention should persist, it being understood that all such sums are to be in the form of non-reimbursable grants, that the required contribution from each member State is to be proportional to its assessed contribution to the budget of the League secretariat, that States that so desire are encouraged to make contributions in excess of their assigned share, and that the contributions of member States are to be paid into a new special account to be opened for this purpose by the secretariat of the League of Arab States;

2. To invite member States to provide a further subvention in the amount of 150 million dollars to be channelled to the Al-Aqsa Fund and the Al-Quds Intifadah Fund and to be allocated to the promotion of development activities in Palestine;

3. To commend the financial support and assistance in kind provided by the governments and peoples of member States to the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority;

4. To urge the Arab peoples to contribute generously to the account to support the tenacity of the Palestinian people (account No. 124448) that the League of Arab States has established at branches of the Arab Bank in order to promote popular participation in supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and its valiant Intifadah.

(Summit resolution 14/224 A, adopted on 28 March 2002)

Question of Palestine, and recent developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict:

(b)   Support for the Intifadah and steadfastness of the Palestinian people 

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Affirming its enduring support for the Palestinian people and its political leadership in the struggle for legitimate national rights, and declaring its unconditional support for the hallowed Intifadah of the Palestinian people and for its steadfast endurance until such time as it achieves its objectives of freedom, independence and the establishment of an independent State with Jerusalem as its capital,

Condemning in the strongest terms the bloody military campaign of repression being carried out by the Government of Israel against the steadfast Palestinian people with the destruction of Palestinian institutions, the reoccupation of towns, villages and camps, the killing and harassment of Palestinian civilians, the detention of hundreds of people and the imposition of a stifling military and economic blockade,

Taking account of the recommendations of the Follow-up and Action Committee established at the regular session of the Arab summit conference held in Amman, Jordan, in March 2001,

Decides:

1. To maintain and augment political and material support to the Palestinian people and its national leadership in their heroic Intifadah and their valiant resistance to the Israeli campaign of repression, terror and harassment and in their legitimate struggle to secure their national right to exercise self-determination and establish an independent Palestinian State that will enable them to live in the same freedom and dignity as other peoples; 

2. To reaffirm that the option of a comprehensive and just peace is the established position of the Arab States, is to be realized through the implementation of the resolutions that embody international legitimacy and requires the Israeli side to espouse the following principles:

(a) Withdrawal of Israeli military forces from all Palestinian and Arab territories occupied in 1967 in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, namely Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978); and the dismantlement of the existing settlements as unlawful and in violation of the provisions of international law and the Geneva conventions of 1949;

(b) Establishment of an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital ;

(c) Recognition of the right of return of the Palestine refugees in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III);

3. To condemn Israel’s violations of the statutes the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, its constant attacks on medical teams and Red Cross and Red Crescent ambulances and its hindrance of these humanitarian agencies in the performance of their duties under international humanitarian law and, specifically, the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949;

4. To hold Israel fully accountable for its aggression and for its actions and their consequences and liable for compensation for the physical and economic losses and damage it has inflicted on Palestinian infrastructure in towns, villages and camps and on establishments of the Palestinian national economy; and to warn against the consequences of its pillage and its persistence in these grievous policies against the Palestinian people, its national institutions and its legitimate leadership;

5. To condemn the State terrorism practised by the Israeli Government and the Israeli military establishment, the killings of civilians, the destruction of the institutions and infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority, and the invasion and reoccupation of Palestinian towns, villages and camps; to urge the international community, and in particular the Security Council and its permanent members, to act immediately to halt Israel’s aggression and its heinous massacres of civilians and to take steps to provide international protection for the Palestinian people under occupation; and to insist on the implementation of the Declaration adopted on 5 December 2001 by the reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949;

6. To support the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority so as to bolster their steadfastness for as long as the Israeli occupation and aggression of the occupied territories continues;

7. To request the Secretary-General to monitor the implementation of this resolution.

(Summit resolution 14/224 B, adopted on 28 March 2002)

Question of Palestine, and recent developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict:

Solidarity with and support for Lebanon

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Recalling the resolutions of the Arab summit conferences and ministerial councils on solidarity with and support for Lebanon,

Recalling in particular Amman Arab summit conference resolution 205 of 28 March 2001,

Decides:

1. To condemn Israel in the strongest terms for its continued occupation of Lebanese territory and of positions along Lebanon’s borders, for its continued detention of Lebanese citizens in its prisons, for its failure to hand over to the United Nations all of the maps showing the locations of the landmines laid by its occupying forces and for its ongoing violations of Lebanese sovereignty on land, at sea and in the air; and to denounce Israeli outrages and threats directed against Lebanon and Syria and regard any aggression against them as aggression against all the Arab States; 

2. To affirm support for Lebanon:

(a) In completing the liberation of its territory from Israeli occupation, including the Shab`a farmlands, up to the internationally recognized boundaries in accordance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978), while retaining its right to resist such occupation by all legitimate means;

(b) In its demand for the release of the Lebanese prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons as hostages in violation of the norms of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and The Hague Convention of 1907 and in exercising its right to liberate these prisoners using all legitimate means;

(c) In its demand for the removal of the hundreds of thousands of landmines the Israeli occupation has left behind, on the understanding that Israel must bear responsibility for their placement and for the civilian deaths and injuries that they cause;

(d) In asserting its right to its territorial waters in accordance with international law and in opposition to Israeli ambitions;

3. To call upon the international community and international judicial and political entities:

(a) To bring pressure to bear on Israel to compensate Lebanon for the losses and damage caused by its repeated incursions into Lebanese territory before, during and since the time of the occupation;

(b) To enable delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross and representatives of other humanitarian organizations to visit all of the Lebanese detainees on an ongoing basis and to assess their condition and provide them with medical care;

(c) To endeavour to have the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopt a resolution that will make it possible to investigate cases where detainees have died in Israeli detention camps so that compensation can be paid to injured parties in accordance with international law and the relevant conventions;

4. To affirm the right of return of the Palestine refugees to their homes; and to caution that any failure to resolve the case of those residing in Lebanon on the basis of their return to their homes in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the principles of international law and any attempt at their resettlement will undermine security and stability in the region and impede the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace;

5. To thank the member States and Arab funds that have provided aid and financial assistance to the Lebanese Government; to request all States to meet the commitments given at the Arab summit conferences for support to Lebanon and for the steadfastness of its people and its reconstruction; to reactivate the Lebanon Support Fund in accordance with its founding statute; to assist the Lebanese Government in rebuilding and in reconstruction and development, especially in the areas liberated from Israeli occupation; and to support Lebanon’s call to member States to sponsor specific projects and fund bilateral development projects;

6. To monitor the implementation of paragraph 6 of resolution 6156, adopted by the Ministerial-level Council of the League of Arab States at its one hundred and seventeenth session on 10 March 2002, on the financing of development projects in southern Lebanon and the Western Bekaa;

7. To condemn State terrorism and reject attempts to include resistance in terrorism statutes, on the grounds that a distinction must be drawn between terrorism and legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation; and to affirm the need for an international conference to be convened under the auspices of the United Nations to consider terrorism and elaborate an international counter-terrorism convention that incorporates a precise definition of the phenomenon that differentiates between it and the legitimate right of peoples to resist foreign occupation.

(Summit resolution 14/225, adopted on 28 March 2002)

Question of Palestine, and recent developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict:

The occupied Syrian Arab Golan

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Decides :

1. To condemn Israel in the strongest terms for its continued occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan; and to affirm its solidarity with Syria and its support for Syria’s right to the restoration of all the occupied Syrian Arab Golan up to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with the principles of the peace process and the relevant resolutions;

2. To affirm the Arab position of maintaining full solidarity with Syria and Lebanon and of alignment with them in confronting the constant Israeli attacks and threats against them; and to regard any attack on Syria and Lebanon as an attack on the Arab nation;

3. To support the steadfast endurance of the Arab residents of the occupied Syrian Golan and align itself with them in their opposition to Israel’s occupation and repressive practices and their perseverance in clinging to their land and their Syrian Arab identity; and to reaffirm the essential applicability of the 1949 Geneva Convention to the citizens of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan;

4. To uphold the resolutions requiring that any situation created by Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Arab territories should not be recognized on the grounds that it is unlawful and gives rise to no rights or obligations, that the building of settlements and introduction of settlers is in serious violation of the Geneva Conventions, constitutes a war crime under Additional Protocol I to the Conventions and is in breach of the principles of the peace process, and that there must therefore be a halt to all Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan and the occupied Arab territories;

5. To condemn the policy of the Israeli Government that has destroyed the peace process and has led to a constant escalation of tension in the region; and to urge the international community, and especially the co-sponsors of the Madrid peace conference and the European Union, to induce Israel to comply with the United Nations resolutions relating to its full withdrawal from the Syrian Arab Golan, and from all the occupied Arab territories, to the line of 4 June 1967.

(Summit resolution 14/226, adopted on 28 March 2002)

/…

International protection for the children of Palestine

The Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States,

Having considered:

The note by the secretariat,

Having examined the dangerous situation affecting Palestinian children,

Decides:

1. To reaffirm its previous resolution on the provision of all care and support to Palestinian children and on meeting their health and educational needs;

2. To ask the supreme Arab councils for children to make every effort, at the international level, to provide protection for Palestinian children and to take prompt action with all relevant international institutions to ensure that their lives are secure;

3. To request the secretariat to form a committee of experts, consisting of Arab jurists, to examine the situation of Palestinian children in the light of the provisions of the relevant international covenants, treaties and conventions, to formulate the necessary measures to ensure the conviction of anyone who perpetrates an outrage against them and to secure international protection for them;

4. To request the secretariat to convene an international conference of international organizations and global juristic bodies active in the fields of human rights and children’s rights in order to elaborate programmes to prevent outrages against the children of Palestine and protect them from practices that violate international treaties and covenants;

5. To urge member States to participate actively in the work of the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on children to be held in May 2002.

(Summit resolution 14/238, adopted on 28 March 2002)

Final communiqué

/…

The grave situation in the occupied Palestinian territories

9.   The leaders reviewed the extremely grave situation of the Palestinian people resulting from the systematic and total war of destruction being waged against it by the Israeli occupation forces with all the means and weapons at their disposal in order to destroy its institutions, subjugate it and extinguish the flame of resistance to occupation in its soul. At the same time, Israel is persisting in its settlement policy and in assassinations, the demolition of homes, the establishment of isolation zones, the destruction of the environment, the maintenance of an economic blockade and expulsions and forced displacements, all in flagrant violation of international law and international agreements, conventions and covenants.

They hold Israel fully accountable for its aggression, for its savage practices against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority and for the destruction and damage it has inflicted on infrastructure in towns, villages and camps and on the Palestinian national economy. They affirm that Israel must be held liable for the payment of compensation for all such destruction and damage.

They call, in this connection, for the implementation of the Declaration adopted on 5 December 2001 by the reconvened Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, in which the participants call on Israel to respect the provisions of the Convention in full in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and to honour its obligations as the occupying Power.

Acclaim for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and for its Intifadah

10.   With great pride, the Arab leaders acclaim the splendid steadfastness of the Palestinian Arab people and its valiant Intifadah as well as its legitimate national leadership headed by President Yasser Arafat. They express their admiration and esteem for the martyrs of the Intifadah, and they commend the spirit of devotion, tenacity and sacrifice of their families and of the Palestinian people, which has succeeded in engaging the Israeli war machine and thwarting the policy of the fait accompli that the occupation authorities have tried to impose.

Support for the Palestinian economy, and a subvention to the budget of the Palestinian National Authority

11.   The leaders reviewed the tragic situation of the Palestinian Arab people resulting from the fact that the Israeli occupation forces are continuing to destroy its infrastructure, maintain a blockade against it and its national leadership, and to make increasing use of all forms of aggression against the lives and dignity of the Palestinian people. The leaders affirm that they will continue to support the Palestinian economy and its infrastructure in order to perpetuate the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in its land. They thus decide to grant a subvention to the Palestinian National Authority for a total amount of 330 million dollars, to consist of 55 million dollars a month for six months beginning on 1 April 2002, automatically renewable every six months for as long as the Israeli aggression continues and the Palestinian National Authority remains in need of the subvention, it being understood that all such sums are to be in the form of non-reimbursable grants, that the required contribution from each member State is to be proportional to its share in the scale of assessments for the budget of the League secretariat, and that the contributions of member States are to be paid into a new special account to be opened for this purpose by the secretariat of the League of Arab States. They also decide that the Arab States should provide a further subvention in the amount of 150 million dollars to be channelled to the Al-Aqsa Fund and the Al-Quds Intifadah Fund.

  The leaders request the secretariat to continue to take action to coordinate and promote the efforts of inter-Arab and international institutions and non-governmental organizations to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and to organize a campaign to have citizens of the Arab nation contribute one day’s pay to be deposited in the account to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people established by the secretariat at branches of the Arab Bank (account No. 124448).

Commitment of the Arab States to a just and comprehensive peace as an objective and a strategic choice

12.   The leaders reaffirm their past resolutions on their commitment to a just and comprehensive peace as an objective and a strategic choice to be achieved by compliance with international legitimacy. They urge Israel to resume the peace negotiations on all tracks on the basis of the relevant Security Council resolutions, including resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978), and General Assembly resolution 194 (III), the terms of reference of the Madrid conference and the principle of land for peace.

They affirm that a comprehensive and just peace can only be achieved: by Israel’s complete withdrawal from all the Arab territories it is occupying, and especially from the occupied Syrian Arab Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 and the Lebanese territories still under occupation, including the Shab`a farmlands; by enabling the Palestinian people to enjoy all of its inalienable rights, including the right to exercise self-determination and establish an independent Palestinian State on its own national soil with Jerusalem as its capital; by guaranteeing the right of return of the Palestine refugees in accordance with the principles of international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions, including General Assembly resolution 194 (III); and by the release of Arab detainees and abduction victims from all Israeli prisons.

Endorsement of the right of return and rejection of schemes and moves to resettle Palestine refugees away from their homes

13.   The leaders regard Israel as having full legal responsibility for the existence of the problem of the Palestine refugees and for their expulsion. They affirm their total rejection of proposed solutions and for schemes and moves that seek to resettle them in places other than their homes. They affirm their commitment to the Security Council resolutions relating to the City of Jerusalem, specifically its resolutions 252 (1968), 267 (1969), 465 (1980) and 478 (1980), in which the Council affirms that all measures Israel has taken and is taking to change the character of the City are null and void. In this context, the leaders reaffirm the provisions of the Arab summit resolutions adopted in Amman in 1980, Baghdad in 1990 and Cairo in 2000 concerning the severance of all relations with States that relocate their embassies to Jerusalem or recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Message to Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Arab Golan

14.   The leaders condemn Israel in the strongest terms for its continuing occupation of the Syrian Arab Golan and affirm their full solidarity with Syria and their support for its right to the full restoration of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan, to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with the principles of the peace process and the relevant United Nations resolutions. The leaders further declare their support for the steadfastness of the Arab citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan and in their opposition to the Israeli occupation and its repressive practices and in their insistence on retaining their land and their Syrian Arab identity. They affirm that the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 must be applied to citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan.

The leaders further stress their commitment to the United Nations resolutions requiring non-recognition of any situation created by Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Arab territories. They regard such activities as illegal, as creating no rights and establishing no obligations, and as constituting a breach of the Geneva Conventions, a war crime under Additional Protocol I to the Conventions and a violation of the principles of the peace process.

Solidarity with Lebanon and approval of the Lebanese national resistance 

15.   The leaders support Lebanon in seeking, by all legitimate means, to complete the liberation of its territory from Israeli occupation up to its internationally recognized boundaries, including the Shab`a farmlands. They commend the role of the valiant Lebanese resistance and the splendid Lebanese steadfastness that brought about the rout of the Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the Western Bekaa.

They demand the release of the Lebanese detainees in Israeli prisons and the delivery to the United Nations of all the maps showing the locations of the landmines left behind by the Israeli occupation. They call upon Israel to pay Lebanon compensation for its persistent aggression against it and for the casualties of the Qana massacre caused by its shelling of a United Nations compound in southern Lebanon.

They caution that any continuation of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon’s sovereignty exemplified by the violation of Lebanese airspace and territorial waters by Israeli aircraft and warships may create an explosive situation along Lebanon’s southern boundaries. They warn of the dire consequences, for which Israel must bear full responsibility, of the incitement and provocation this represents.

The leaders express their complete solidarity with Lebanon and Syria, and they reject the Israeli threats against them. They regard any aggression against them as aggression against all the Arab States.

Reaffirmation of the resolutions of the Arab summit conferences on support for Lebanon and assistance in its reconstruction efforts

16.   The leaders reaffirm the Arab summit conference resolutions on the need to support Lebanon and assist its reconstruction efforts. They commend the assistance provided by some Arab States for this purpose, and they urge member States that have expressed readiness to provide such support to do so. They call for the reactivation of the Lebanon Support Fund so that the country can rebuild its infrastructure, especially in the areas that have been liberated from Israeli occupation.

Reactivation of the Office for the Arab Boycott of Israel 

17.   In the light of the setback to the peace process, the leaders affirm their commitment to suspending the maintenance of any relations with Israel and to reactivating the Office for the Arab Boycott of Israel until such time as Israel complies with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the terms of reference of the Madrid peace conference and withdraws fully from all the occupied Arab territories to the line of 4 June 1967.

Placement of all Israeli nuclear installations under the international safeguards regime, and demand that Israel should accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

18.   The leaders affirm that lasting peace and security in the region require Israel’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the submission of all its nuclear installations to the comprehensive safeguards regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency. They affirm in this connection the extreme importance of ridding the Middle East region of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction as a necessary and indispensable precondition for the future establishment of any arrangements for regional security in the Middle East.

Responsibility and role of the international community in advancing the peace process

19.   The leaders welcome the positions taken and initiatives advanced by the European Union in seeking to promote a just and comprehensive political solution to the Middle East issue on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions and the principle of land for peace. They stress the need for Europe to continue to play an active role in this context and for the efforts of other friendly countries.

 They appeal to the United States to reassess its reading of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and related calculations and attitudes and to set aside the entanglement of the attacks of 11 September — which the Arabs have condemned — in the context of its dealings with the Middle East.

They call upon the United States to meet its responsibilities, and they urge it to resume the peace process on all tracks without delay and avoid giving Israel any further opportunity to subjugate the Palestinian people and pursue a policy of murder and destruction against it on the pretext of combating terrorism.

Counter-terrorism

20.   The leaders reviewed developments in the situation in the international arena after the events of 11 September 2001 and the emergence of a global counter-terrorism campaign on the basis of Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).

They reaffirmed their condemnation of the attacks in the United States of America, their rejection and condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and their full readiness to cooperate and participate in every effort to combat terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations. They urge the necessity of convening an international conference within the United Nations framework to consider the question of terrorism and formulate a precise definition of the phenomenon.

They stress the need to differentiate clearly between terrorism, which they condemn, and the legitimate right of peoples to resist, reject and defend themselves against foreign occupation in accordance with the principles of international legality and the relevant United Nations resolutions, especially General Assembly resolution 46/51 of 9 December 1991, entitled “Measures to eliminate international terrorism”.

They affirm the right of the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people and the Syrian people to resist Israeli occupation and aggression as a legitimate right that is guaranteed by international law and international covenants. They reject any conflation of this legitimate right to resist occupation with the State terrorism practised by Israel in the Palestinian territories.

They stress that any perversion of the concept of terrorism so that it embraces Arab resistance to Israeli occupation would provide illicit cover for the continued existence of the occupation and State terrorism practised by Israel at the expense of Arab rights and in violation of the resolutions of the United Nations and the principles of international law.

Considering that terrorism is a global phenomenon and one that is not linked to any one nationality, religion or country, the leaders affirm their total rejection of attempts in some circles to link the terrorism phenomenon with Islam and the Arabs.

They reject the attempt to exploit the campaign against terrorism to direct threats of force against any Arab State, and they would regard any such threats as aggression against the region, as prejudicial to its security and stability and thus as incompatible with the purposes and principles of the United Nations and international law.

/…

The environmental situation in Palestine and the occupied territories 

43.   The leaders express their concern at the deterioration in the environmental situation in Palestine and the occupied territories, as exemplified by the contamination of water sources, coastal pollution, the disappearance of natural vegetation cover, the accumulation of hazardous wastes and the many other environmental hazards that have increased the pressures on citizens and worsened their living conditions. The leaders welcome the decision taken by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme at its seventh special session requesting the Executive Director of the Programme to visit the region as a first step towards the appointment of a panel of experts to prepare a thorough and objective study of the environmental situation in the occupied Palestinian territories in order to identify sites requiring urgent measures. They ask all of the agencies concerned to provide the necessary information and facilities to the United Nation s Environment Programme to help it to conduct and complete the study requested.

/…

Beirut Declaration

We, the Kings, Presidents and Amirs of the Arab States, meeting as the Summit-level Council of the League of Arab States (fourteenth regular session) in Beirut, capital of the Lebanese Republic, on 27 and 28 March 2002,

Having examined the grave regional and international developments and their disturbing consequences, the challenges confronting the Arab nation and the threats posed to Arab national security,

Having conducted a thorough evaluation of these developments and challenges, and especially those relating to the Arab region and the occupied Palestinian territories in particular, and of the general war of destruction launched by Israel on the pretext of combating terrorism while exploiting the tragic events of September and the universal condemnation they have merited,

Having discussed the fate of the peace process and Israel’s practices that seek to destroy it and to plunge the Middle East into anarchy and instability,

Having observed with the greatest pride the Intifadah of the Palestinian people and its valiant resistance,

Having discussed the Arab initiatives seeking a just and comprehensive peace in the region and compliance with the United Nations resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the question of Palestine,

Invoking the national responsibility and believing in the purposes and principles of the Pact of the League of Arab States and the Charter of the United Nations,

Declare that we shall undertake the following:

To continue to take action to strengthen Arab solidarity in all fields in order to safeguard Arab national security and thwart the foreign schemes to diminish Arab territorial integrity;

To acclaim with pride and admiration the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and its valiant Intifadah against the Israeli occupation and Israel’s devastating military machine, its systematic repression and the massacres it commits, targeting children, women and the elderly without distinction and without any humanitarian inhibitions;

To stand in veneration and deference before the valiant martyrs of the Intifadah, and to affirm our constant and manifold support for the Palestinian people in order to sustain its heroic and legitimate struggle against occupation until it achieves its just demands, including the right to return, exercise self-determination and establish an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital;

To act in solidarity with Lebanon in completing the liberation of its territory and to provide it with support for its development and reconstruction;

To express pride in the Lebanese resistance and in the splendid steadfastness of Lebanon that caused the rout of the Israeli forces from most of southern Lebanon and the Western Bekaa; to demand the immediate release of Lebanese detainees being held in Israeli prisons in violation of international norms and covenants; to condemn the recurring Israeli aggression against Lebanon’s sovereignty exemplified by the violations by Israeli aircraft and warships of Lebanese airspace and territorial waters, which portend dire consequences because they represent incitement, provocation and aggression that might create an explosive situation along Lebanon’s southern boundaries for which Israel will be entirely responsible;

To acclaim the steadfastness of the Syrian Arab citizens of the occupied Syrian Golan, to commend their commitment to their national identity and their resistance to the Israeli occupation, to affirm our solidarity with Syria and Lebanon in confronting the Israeli threats of aggression that are undermining security and stability in the region, and to regard any aggression against them as aggression against all the Arab States;

To affirm, in the light of the setback to the peace process, our commitment to suspending the maintenance of any relations with Israel and to reactivating the Office for the Arab Boycott of Israel until Israel complies with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the terms of reference of the Madrid peace conference and withdraws fully from all the occupied Arab territories to the line of 4 June 1967;

To stress that peace in the Middle East is destined never to succeed unless it is just and comprehensive and in accordance with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and the principle of land for peace; and to affirm the inseparable character of the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and their organic link with the Palestinian track in the achievement of Arab objectives for a global and inclusive solution;

To request Israel, in the context of the sponsorship by the Council of the Saudi initiative as the Arab Peace Initiative, to re-evaluate its policies and incline towards peace and to declare that a just peace is also its own strategic choice;

  To further call upon it:

(a)   To withdraw fully from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, and from the territories in southern Lebanon that are still occupied;

(b)   To arrive at a just and agreed solution to the Palestine refugee problem in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III);

(c)   To accept the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian State in the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital;

  To undertake that the Arab States shall then:

(a)   Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict at an end and enter into a peace agreement between them and Israel while achieving security for all the States of the region;

(b)   Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace;

To guarantee the rejection of all forms of Palestinian resettlement, which is incompatible with the special situation in the Arab host countries;

To urge the Government of Israel and all Israelis to accept the foregoing Initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and spare further bloodshed, thus enabling the Arab States and Israel to live side by side in peace and ensuring for generations to come a secure future in which stability and prosperity can prevail;

To invite the international community and all its constituent States and organizations to support this Initiative;

To request the Chairman of the summit to form a special committee, to include interested member States and the Secretary-General of the League, to pursue the necessary contacts to gain support for this Initiative at all levels and in particular from the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the Islamic countries and the European Union;

To welcome the assurances provided by the Republic of Iraq concerning respect for the independence, sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the State of Kuwait, thereby obviating any possible repetition of the events of 1990; to urge the pursuit, in a framework of good faith and relations of good-neighbourliness, of policies conducive to that goal; and to urge, in this connection, the importance of halting negative media campaigns and pronouncements with a view to creating a positive climate in which the two countries can confidently uphold the principles of good-neighbourliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of others;

To demand respect for the independence, sovereignty, security, national unity and territorial integrity of Iraq;

To urge Iraq to cooperate in the formulation of a speedy and definitive solution to the issue of the Kuwaiti prisoners and hostages and the return of property, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions; and to call for Kuwait’s cooperation in connection with Iraq’s submissions, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, concerning missing Iraqis ;

To welcome the resumption of the dialogue between Iraq and the United Nations, which began in a positive and constructive atmosphere, with a view to the full implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions;

To call for the sanctions imposed on Iraq to be lifted and for the suffering of its fraternal people to be brought to an end so that stability and security in the region can be ensured;

To reject the threat of aggression against certain Arab States, and in particular Iraq, and to affirm their unconditional rejection of a strike against Iraq, or a threat to the security and integrity of any Arab State, as a threat to the national security of all Arab States;

To affirm the sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates over its three islands and to support all peaceful measures and actions taken with a view to restoring its sovereignty over them in accordance with the principles and norms of international law, including agreement to refer the case to the International Court of Justice;

To condemn international terrorism, including the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001 against the United States of America and the exploitation by the Israeli Government of this attack in order to maintain its practice of State terrorism and to launch a devastating general war of aggression against the Palestinian people;

To stress the distinction between international terrorism and the legitimate right of peoples to resist foreign aggression; and to affirm the need to conclude an international agreement in the framework of the United Nations that lays down a precise definition of international terrorism and identifies its causes and the means to address it;

To affirm — in accordance with the repudiation of all forms of racial discrimination, the encouragement of tolerance and coexistence on a basis of mutual respect and the safeguarding of legitimate rights that are advocated by the revealed religions and by human values — the importance of interaction among cultures and civilizations; and to commend the efforts being made by the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and others to communicate the facts concerning Arab and Islamic culture and civilization and to refute the false assertions made in their regard;

To expedite the introduction of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area in the light of the growing phenomenon of global economic groupings and the approaching end of the period set for the application of the World Trade Organization Agreement ;

To express our great appreciation to the Lebanese Republic and to His Excellency General Émile Lahoud, President of the Republic, for their attention and solicitude and for the excellent preparations made for the summit ; and to convey our deep gratitude to His Excellency President Émile Lahoud for successfully conducting and directing the work of the Arab summit with the highest degree of political skill, mature wisdom and insightful responsibility.

Statement concerning the requirement that innocent civilians should be protected from the dangers of the escalating confrontation caused by the Israeli policy of aggression

At a time when all speak of peace as a strategic choice, Israel is persisting in its aggression and its occupation and in actions seeking to liquidate the land and institutions of the Palestinian people and Palestinian groups and individuals. This is a situation that must be countered with national resistance based on a solid ground of legitimacy.

In this context, and despite the deep anger and mounting frustration caused by the continuing military aggression of the Israeli occupation forces in the occupied territories, the Arab summit calls for the protection of innocent citizens from the dangers of the escalating confrontation caused by the Israeli policy of aggression.

Address by His Excellency General Émile Lahoud, President of the Lebanese Republic

My brothers; Your Majesties, Your Excellencies and Your Highnesses,

I have the joy and the honour to extend to you the warmest welcome to Lebanon, where you will find your kin and your brothers as in your own country. I have the pleasure to convey to you the sense of delight and happiness felt by the entire Lebanese people that you are among us here today. This is a people that wishes the best for your beloved countries and is linked with your fraternal peoples by bonds of affection and kinship and by a long common history. On behalf of the Lebanese people and in my personal capacity, I beseech God almighty to grant us success at this summit that our nation may thus benefit, our interests prosper and our rights be restored.

Dear brothers,

I begin my address by conveying the deepest gratitude, on behalf of you all, to my brother His Majesty King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein of the fraternal Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for his endeavours while presiding over this summit at its past session. I thank him for the warm hospitality and solicitude with which he honoured us while the Amman summit was in session, and we wish His Majesty and the fraternal Jordanian people continued success, progress and stability.

I am also gratified to be able to thank His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, my brother, for the decision of the United Arab Emirates to forgo its turn so that this summit could be held in Lebanon, a decision that was made in appreciation of the epic struggle for liberation waged by the Lebanese people against the Israeli occupation.

Dear brothers,

At this very moment, the eyes of the world, and especially the Arab and Islamic world, are upon us. Much is expected of us in the fateful circumstances that have so complicated international and regional parameters that it has become necessary to subject them to examination so as to form a clear perception and take responsible positions that serve our objectives and meet the aspirations of our nation.

The Beirut summit is being held today, one year after our meeting in Amman and another since the Cairo summit, as Israel’s serial criminality against the valiant Palestinian people mows down hundreds of dead and wounded on a daily basis, displaces thousands of families, destroys hundreds of homes, institutions and establishments and invades villages and camps as almost the entire world keeps shameful silence and expresses mild disapproval.

Your Majesties, Your Excellencies and Your Highnesses,

More than 30 years have elapsed since the adoption of the United Nations resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied Arab territories, and more than a half century has passed since the resolutions requiring it to return the Palestinian people to its land. From that time to the Madrid conference, then by way of the Oslo manoeuvres and up to the so-called Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet report, matters have gone from bad to worse. Israel’s policy has become increasingly criminal and expansionist, and the Palestinian people has become increasingly dispossessed and progressively more distressed. However, from out of this oppression and pain have come the resistance and the Intifadah, and we are at a new dawn that heralds the restoration of right and the imminence of salvation.

Dear brothers,

Today, the dawn of the resistance and the Intifadah having broken, they have come speaking of a halt to violence in the occupied territories, ignoring any political substance linked with negotiations on the implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions. What can it mean merely to halt violence between the occupiers and those resisting occupation except that the occupation will remain safely in place ad infinitum?

Now, as they support Israel in its war against the resistance and the Intifadah, certain States are ascribing terrorism to us — to the Arabs, the first to denounce and condemn it — while seeking to overlook the fact that occupation is the greatest terrorism and to forget that they in America, just as in Europe and elsewhere, liberated their own territory by means of resistance in the past. They also seek to ignore the fact that most of the terrorist groups in connection with which they are accusing us, were established by them themselves. As far as we are concerned, they are asking us to pay twice: once when they were their friends and once more after they became their enemies. For this precise reason, Arab solidarity requires us to consider any exploitation of this situation against any Arab State as an outrage against all of us.

Dear brothers,

They say that matters in the region are at an impasse, have entered a path that is blocked. As far as we are concerned, we say that the path has been blocked from the outset, by Israel, and that it is this fact that has brought matters to the way they are now. Yes; this explosion was bound to happen, just as the situation is bound to evolve in the future, inasmuch as Israel has blocked from the outset, and is continuing to block, all roads leading to the implementation of United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III) and United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978). Everyone knows that Israel withdrew from most of southern Lebanon only under the pressure of the resistance, and it will only defer to the rights of the Palestinian people under the pressure of the Intifadah. This is especially true of the right of return enshrined in General Assembly resolution 194 (III), on which the Taif accord was based, and the Lebanese Constitution rejects any kind of resettlement in Lebanon.

Dear brothers,

The major danger confronting us is not Israel’s criminal policy, because history has taught us that this policy will inevitably fail in the long run. The great danger would be our acceptance of the international pressures for us to exchange a halt to the resistance and the Intifadah for a halt to violence rather than for the elimination of the occupation and the restoration of rights. For us, to accept such a trade would be to spurn the sacrifices of the thousands of martyrs who have fallen and to lost the case.

The only patriotically and historically permissible deal must be one for the implementation by Israel of the relevant United Nations resolutions, for its full withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories to the boundaries of 4 June 1967 and for the right the Palestinian people to return to its land.

Dear brothers,

The exchange, if there is to be one, must be between the sacrifices of the resistance and the Intifadah on the one hand and a just and comprehensive peace on the other. This alone is the way to genuine stability in the region. The Beirut summit is a historic way station from which the Arabs can address to the world a clear message whose rubric is peace — full peace in exchange for full rights with respect to territory and return — failing which we shall find ourselves again faced with further tragedies and lost opportunities.

My brothers; Your Majesties, Your Excellencies and Your Highnesses,

I again reiterate my welcome to you all and my invitation to make yourselves at home in Lebanon. I transmit to your beloved countries and your fraternal peoples the greetings and affection of the entire Lebanese people, as I beseech God to grant us success at this summit for all the good and right it may do.

Peace be with you.

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