10th Arab Summit Conference – Final Declaration – Letter from Tunisia

I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the text of the Final Declaration of the Tenth Arab Summit Conference, held at Tunis from 20 to November 1979.

I  request you to have the text of the Declaration distributed as an official document of the General Assembly under agenda items 24 and 25.

(Signed)  Mahmoud MESTIRI

Permanent Representative

ANNEX

Final Declaration of the Tenth Arab Summit Conference

Pursuant to the eighth resolution of the Ninth Arab Summit Conference, held at Baghdad from 2 to 5 Dhu-I-Hijjah 1398 A.H., corresponding to 2 to 5 November 1978 A.D., and in response to the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Habib Bourguiba, President of the Republic of Tunisia, the Tenth Arab Summit Conference was held in the city of Tunis, capital of the Republic of Tunisia.

Inspired by a feeling of national responsibility, guided by the principles in which the Arab nation believes, loyal to the traditions of joint Arab action, seeking to promote Arab solidarity and to strengthen the nation's ability to recover its rights and build its future, wishing to ensure the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and the continuity of Palestinian steadfastness in the face of the Zionist enemy and recognizing the need to help Lebanon to overcome its crisis in the south.

Their Majesties, Excellencies and Highness the Kings, Presidents and Emirs of the Arab countries reviewed the Arab situation, studied the question of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the developments that had taken place since the Ninth Arab Summit Conference at Baghdad, the joint Arab action strategy for the next stage in all fields and the situation in southern Lebanon and took the political, defence and economic decisions required to confront the Zionist enemy and to deal with the situation in southern Lebanon. 

The Summit Conference confirms that the issue of Palestine lies at the heart of the long-term conflict in which the Arabs are engaged against Zionism which is posing a military, political, economic and cultural threat to the destiny of the entire nation.

The Conference also confirms that the Arab nation is struggling to achieve an equitable peace based on the precepts of right and justice and the principle of the recovery of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people and the liberation of all occupied Palestinian and Arab lands.

The Arab nation, which is resolved to face up to the challenge and to preserve in the struggle to recover its usurped rights and to build a future in which justice and peace will prevail, is fully aware that the conflict in which it is engaged against Zionism is a battle of destiny and of civilization for which the nation should seek guidance in its cultural values, mobilize all its potential and capabilities, build its own capacities on firm foundations, strengthen its solidarity, unify its ranks and its resolve and seek assistance in its fateful struggle from all the forces of peace and justice throughout the world.

While reiterating their condemnation of the Camp David accord and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and their categorical rejection of those documents and all that they imply, the Arab Kings, Presidents and Emirs emphasize that the solution must be a comprehensive one based on the principle of the liberation of all occupied Arab and Palestinian lands and the full recovery of the rights of the Palestinian people and, in particular, its right to return to its homeland, to achieve self-determination and to establish its independent State on its national soil, and stress their support for the struggle of the Palestinian Arab people under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, its sole legitimate representative.

The Conference salutes the steadfastness of our people in the occupied Palestinian lands and their heroic resistance to the most odious form of racist occupation and to the policy of Judaization, expulsion, settlement and assaults on their heritage and holy places and calls for greater solidarity, the escalation of the struggle against the self-rule conspiracy and the intensification of international support for that struggle in order to thwart and defeat the Zionist occupation plans.

The Conference expressed its appreciation of the role played by the front-line States and forces, especially Syria, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization, in confronting the Zionist enemy and withstanding all forms of Zionist aggression and arrogance. The Conference stressed the importance of strengthening the potential and capabilities of the front-line States and forces at all levels with a view to the achievement of a strategic balance with the Zionist enemy.

The Conference notes with appreciation the positive results achieved in the implementation of the resolutions of the Ninth Arab Summit Conference at Baghdad, their effect on the international situation, the relative improvement in the attitudes of various countries towards the issue of Palestine and the liberation of the occupied Arab territories, the condemnation of the Camp David accords and that Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty by the Tenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held at Fez in May 1979, by the Sixteenth African Summit Conference, held at Monrovia in July 1979, and the Sixth Summit Conference of the Non-Aligned Countries, held at Havana in September of the same year, and the far-reaching, unity of purpose achieved through Arab action at the current session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

While noting with satisfaction the declining international relations and the increasing isolation of Israel throughout the world and the developing international awareness of the justice of the case for Palestine and the occupied Arab territories, the Conference warns against attempts to restore relations between certain States and the Zionist enemy or to recognize Jerusalem as the latter's capital and declares that the Arab States will take the necessary measures to protect Arab rights.

The Conference affirms its resolve to pursue the action and consultations initiated by the Ninth Arab Summit Conference with a view to achieving the objectives and broadening the scope of joint Arab action, carrying that actions-forward to an advanced stage of solidarity, building up and utilizing Arab  strength for the benefit of Arab interests and bringing the attitudes of third parties closer to Arab positions by various methods,- including Arab economic relations with other States.

The Conference also made it clear that united and joint Arab action in all spheres with a view to the establishment of Arab institutions and the adoption of modern technological methods was indispensable in order to meet the challenges and dangers facing the Arab countries and to build a better future which would secure even greater glory, honour and inviolability for the Arab nation.

The Conference resolutely calls for a strengthening of relations and links of co-operation with the Islamic and African States and with the non-aligned countries in general, for support for the African liberation movements and the African front-line States in their struggle against racism and racial discrimination, for co-operation with the European countries with a view to the furtherance of joint Euro-Arab interests and the development of the attitudes of the European Community on a basis of non-differentiation between the economic relations of States members of the Community and their political positions regarding the just Arab cause centred around the issue of Palestine, for efforts to develop Arab relations with the countries of Latin America in various spheres in a manner conducive to the furtherance of joint interests and of the Arab cause, land for endeavours to gain further support for Arab rights from the group of socialist countries and to develop the latter's support for those rights in such a way as to increase Arab resistance capabilities.

The Conference decided to form ministerial delegations from the Arab States to visit foreign countries in various parts of the world in order to explain the guidelines that the resolutions of the Baghdad Conference had formulated for a just peace and to win support for the Arab position and Arab rights.

The Conference condemns the policy which is being pursued by the United States of America in connexion with the latter's role in the signing of the Camp David accords and the Egyptian-Israeli treaty and emphasizes that the continuation of that policy will have an adverse effect on the mutual relations and interests of the Arab countries and the United States of America.

The Conference expressed disapproval of the attitudes and designs of the United States of America with regard to the Arab nation, considering those designs as incompatible with the interests of the Arab nation and its sovereignty over its resources and potential for the benefit of its peoples and the other developing countries. The Conference emphasized the solidarity of all the peoples of the region in opposing those designs and attitudes which are endangering International peace and security.

The Conference calls for an intensification of endeavours to give American public opinion a better understanding of the nature of the Palestinian cause and of Zionist aggression and to highlight the harm that is being inflicted on both American and Arab citizens as a result of the hostile policy which has been pursued in the Middle East by the Government of the United States, especially since the conclusion of the Camp David accords.

But for that policy, the Israeli enemy would not have persisted in its attacks directed against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples in Lebanon.

The Conference condemns all forms of Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon, for the sufferings of whose population that aggression must be held responsible.  The Conference emphatically rejects Israeli hegemony and Israel's deliberate intervention in the affairs of Lebanon under various false pretexts and affirms the full sovereignty of Lebanon over the whole of its territory and the maintenance of its independence and national unity.

The Conference also emphasized the need for Lebanese State sovereignty to be extended over all Lebanese soil.

The Conference also affirmed the need for the implementation of the Riyadh, Cairo and Beit el-Dine resolutions and for the adoption of the measures required to that end and expressed support for the efforts that were being made by the Lebanese Government and the Palestine Liberation Organization to co-ordinate and co-operate in their approach to all problems.

The Conference decided to support the efforts of the Lebanese people while attaching special importance to the situation in southern Lebanon.

The Conference decided to support the Lebanese Government in all international spheres in order to put maximum pressure on the Israeli enemy with a view to halting the latter's attacks on southern Lebanon and securing Israeli withdrawal from that area.

The Kings, Presidents and Emirs of the Arab States wish to express their deepest appreciation to the Tunisian Arab people and to their President, His Excellency Mr. Habib Bourguiba, for his invitation to hold this Conference in the Tunisian capital and are grateful to Mr. Hedi Nouria, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Tunisia, for his considerable endeavours to further the work of the Conference.

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