Situation in the OPT/Int’l Peace Conference under A/RES/38/58 C – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 11 December 1987 from the Chairman of the Committee 

on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian

People addressed to the Secretary-General

In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish to draw your urgent attention to the very dangerous situation which is being created in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by the renewed acts of violence by the Israeli troops, which have again resulted in casualties among Palestinians.

A number of very serious incidents have taken place in the occupied Palestinian territories since my letter of 13 November 1987 (A/42/768-S/19270) on the same subject.  According to United Press International and the Associated Press, on 9 December 1987 Israeli troops shot two Palestinian youths dead and wounded 18 others in day-long disturbances in the Gaza Strip.  The students were protesting the death of four Palestinians in a road accident which they said was caused by an Israeli truck driver in revenge for the fatal stabbing of a Jewish businessman in Gaza on 6 December.  Four of those injured in the protest were reported in critical condition at Shifa Hospital, where protesters assembled in the courtyard were later attacked by Israeli helicopters which dropped tear-gas canisters into the crowd.  Several members of the security forces were also injured in these disturbances.  Many schools and shops in the Gaza Strip remained closed and hundreds of Palestinians stayed away from work in Israel because of the protests.

According to The New York Times and United Press International, the widespread protest demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza resulted in clashes with Israeli soldiers and the shooting death of a Palestinian youth in Nablus and the wounding of at least 12 others on 10 December.  The same sources reported that at Kalandia refugee camp north of Jerusalem 23 students, who had raised Palestinian flags during a demonstration, were arrested.  Another 12 persons were hurt in scuffles with the police.  Many students were later treated for tear-gas inhalation.

Reuters reported that an 11-year-old Palestinian boy from the town of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip died after Israeli troops shot him in the head during anti-Israeli protests.  At least eight Palestinians were wounded.

According to Reuters and United Press International, Israeli troops opened fire on another protest demonstration in Balata refugee camp in the West Bank on 11 December, killing four Palestinians and injuring another 30.

Reuters also reported that in Jerusalem military authorities jailed the head of the Arab Journalists' Union for six months without trial and ordered the daily Al Fajr to halt distribution in the West Bank for ten days.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People wishes to express its utmost concern at this escalation of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and at these policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, which are in clear violation of United Nations resolutions and the fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949.  The Committee appeals to you once again to redouble your efforts to bring about a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine, in accordance with United Nations resolutions, in particular through the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C.

I should be grateful if you would arrange for the text of this letter to be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 38, and of the Security Council.

87-33367  2169t (E)