Palestine question/Self-determination/Role of PLO – EC Venice declaration – Letter from Italy

Letter dated 16 June 1980 from the Permanent Representative of

Italy to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to inform you that the Heads of State and Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the nine member States of the European Community, meeting as the European Council, have published at Venice on 13 June 1980 the following declaration concerning the situation in the Middle East:

"1.  The Heads of State and Government and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs held comprehensive exchange of views on all aspects of the present situation in the Middle East, including the state of negotiations resulting from the agreements signed between Egypt and Israel in March 1979.  They agreed that growing tensions affecting this region constitute a serious danger and render a comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict more necessary and pressing than ever.

"2.  The nine member States of the European Community consider that the traditional ties and common interests which link Europe to the Middle East oblige them to play a special role and now require them to work in a more concrete way towards peace.

"3.  In this regard, the nine countries of the Community base themselves on Security council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the positions which they have expressed on several occasions, notably in their declarations of 29 June 1977, 19 September 1978, 26 March and 18 June 1979, as well as in the speech made on their behalf on 25 September 1979 by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland at the  thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

"4.  On the bases thus set out, the time has come to promote the recognition and implementation of the two principles universally accepted by the international community: the right to existence and to security of all the States in the region, including Israel, and justice for all the peoples, which implies the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

"5.  All of the countries in the area are entitled to live in peace within secure, recognized and guaranteed boarders.  The necessary guarantees for a peace settlement should be provided by the United Nations by a decision of the Security Council and, if necessary, on the basis of other mutually agreed procedures.  The Nine declare that they are prepared to participate within the framework of a comprehensive settlement in a system of concrete and binding international guarantees, including on the ground.

"6.  A just solution must finally be found to the Palestinian problem, which is not simply one of the refugees.  The Palestinian people, which is conscious of existing as such, must be placed in a position, by an appropriate process defined within in the framework of the comprehensive peace settlement, to exercise fully its right to self-determination.

"7.  The achievement of these objectives requires the involvement and support of all the parties concerned in the peace settlement which the Nine are endeavouring to promote in keeping with the principles formulated in the declaration referred to above.  These principles must be respected by all the parties concerned, and thus by the Palestinian people, and by the PLO which will have to be associated with negotiations.

"8.  The Nine recognize the special importance of the role played by the question of Jerusalem for all the parties concerned.  The Nine stress that they will not accept any unilateral initiative designed to change the status of Jerusalem and that any agreement on the city's status should guarantee freedom of access for everyone to the holy places.

"9.  The Nine stress the need for Israel to put an end to the territorial occupation which it has maintained  since the conflict of 1967, as it has done for part of Sinai.  They are deeply convinced that the Israeli settlements constitute a serious obstacle to the peace process in the Middle East.  The Nine consider that these settlements, as well as modifications in population and property in the occupied Arab territories, are illegal under international law.

"10. Concerned as they are to put an end to violence, the Nine consider that only the renunciation of force and the threatened use of force by all the parties can create a climate of confidence in the area and constitute a  basic element for a comprehensive settlement of the conflict in the Middle East.

"11.  The Nine have decided to make the necessary contacts with all the parties concerned.  The objective of these contacts would be to ascertain the position of the various parties with respect to the principles set out in this declaration and in the light of the results of this consultation process to determine the form which an initiative on their part could take."

I would be grateful if you would have this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under items 24 and 26 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Umberto LA ROCCA
Ambassador

*  Reissued for technical reasons.

** A/35/50

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