Situation in the OPT – Letter from United Arab Emirates

Letter dated 4 April 1985 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of

the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour, in my capacity as Chairman of the Arab Group at the United Nations for the month of April 1985, to request that the attached letter dated 3 April 1985, addressed to you by the Permanent Observer for the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations be distributed as an official document of the General Assembly at its fortieth session under items 33, 75 and 79 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed)  Mohammad AL-MOSFIR

Chargé d'affaires, a.i.

Chairman of the Arab Group

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*A/40/50 and Corr.1

ANNEX

Letter dated 3 April 1985 from the Permanent Observer of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

With reference to our letter of 1 April 1985, I am instructed by Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization to inform you that the barbaric and criminal shelling of the Palestinian refugee camps of Ein El Helweh and Miyah Miyah has continued unabated. The result of which has been the forced exodus of 15,000 Palestinians from the region, including 25,000 from the refugee camp seeking refuge from the criminal attacks by the Zionists and fascist separatist armed elements.  Most of these Palestinians are women and children.

Moreover, on 2 April 1985, Israel transferred approximately 1,000 detainees from the Al-Ansar concentration camp to an unknown destination in Israel. The fate and whereabouts of these detainees calls for an immediate investigation by the United Nations. It should be recalled that as a result of the agreement of 1983, Al-Ansar concentration camp was to be closed for good.  Yet Israel re-opened the concentration camp and brought in hundreds of prisoners.

Chairman Arafat wishes to express his grave concern that the United Nations has not responded to our repeated appeals and warnings and that Israel is continuing its criminal and genocidal acts with impunity. In particular, he wishes to recall that on 16 January 1985, the Palestine Liberation Organization had alerted both the Secretary-General and the Security Council to the impending dangers resulting from Israel's unilateral decision to carry out the phases of redeployment, "withdrawal", of Israeli occupation troops in Lebanon. The Palestine Liberation Organization calls once again upon the United Nations and specifically the Security Council to assume their responsibility and take the necessary measures to put an end to such criminal acts.

Chairman Arafat would, further, appreciate hearing from the Secretary-General about the fate of the six. Palestinians abducted from the Lebanese vessel Khalil Wahib on Saturday, 30 March 1985.

(Signed)  Zuhdi Labib TERZI

Permanent Observer

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