Mideast situation – Letter from Qatar

Letter dated 23 May 2001 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit herewith the text of a statement dated 23 May 2001, issued by the Cabinet Ministers of the State of Qatar at their regular session, regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 40, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Adel Ali Al-Khal

Chargé d’affaires a.i.

Annex to the letter dated 23 May 2001 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic]

Statement dated 23 May 2001 issued by the Council of Ministers at its

regular meeting held this morning at its headquarters in the Amir’s Diwan

The Council of Ministers expressed the hope that the emergency meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, scheduled to be held in Doha on Saturday, 26 May 2001, would arrive at decisions and recommendations rendering all forms of support to the Palestinian people and enabling them to remain steadfast in the face of the constant and barbarous Israeli acts of aggression.

The Council welcomed the positive results and the recommendations of the emergency meeting of the Follow-up and Action Committee held recently in Cairo, especially those relating to the severance of all Arab political contacts with the Israeli Government until such time as it ceases its aggression and its blockade of the Palestinian people and their National Authority, as well as those relating to political and material backing for the Palestinian stand against the Israeli occupation, to support for the intifada of the Palestinian people and their legitimate right to resist the occupation, and to the position vis-à-vis the settlement process and the building of settlements in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.

The Council reiterated the support of the State of Qatar for the Palestinian people and its stand by their side in their just struggle to attain their legitimate rights and their national independence, as well as its complete solidarity with Syria and Lebanon in the face of Israel’s continual threats and acts of aggression against them.