Mideast situation/Palestine question – OAU decisions – Letter from Ghana (excerpt)

Letter dated 29 September 1999 from the Permanent Representative of Algeria

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to request that you circulate as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 31, the text of the decisions adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity at its seventieth ordinary session, held at Algiers, from 8 to 10 July 1999, and the declarations and decisions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity at its thirty-fifth ordinary session, also held at Algiers, from 12 to 14 July 1999 (see annexes).*

(Signed) Abdallah Baali

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

_____________

* Annexes are available only in the languages in which they were submitted (Arabic, English and French).

Annex I

[Original: Arabic, English and French]

Decisions and regulations adopted by the Council of Ministers of the

Organization of African Unity at its seventieth ordinary session

and fifth ordinary session of the African Economic Community

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CM/Dec.457 (LXX)

Decision on the Report of the Secretary-General

on the Situation in the Middle East

(Doc.CM/2103 (LXX))

Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the report;

2. RECALLS all the relevant resolutions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity on the Middle East situation which affirm that the Palestinian question is the core of the Middle East conflict and that no comprehensive, just and lasting peace can be established unless Israel withdraws from all the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and south Lebanon, and unless the Palestinian people exercise their inalienable national rights in accordance with UN resolutions and particularly Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 465, 478, 425 and General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 1947, and on the basis of the land-for-peace formula;

3. CALLS for an initiative that will take all the necessary measures that will guarantee Israel's compliance with the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference and the land-for-peace principle and its full implementation of all the agreements and commitments made by the two parties on all tracks of the peace process;

4. AFFIRMS ITS PRINCIPLED SUPPORT for the Palestinian question, condemns the intransigence of the Government of Israel in the peace talks and calls on Israel to immediately halt all actions that threaten the peace process;

5. CALLS ON the Government of Israel to take into consideration the Rome declaration which endorsed the Law of the International Criminal Court on 18 July 1988, and which is an important step in reinforcing the law and putting an end to the tragedies and crimes against humanity;

6. EXPRESSES ITS APPRECIATION for the initiative proposed by H.E. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of the Arab Republic of Egypt and H.E. President Jacques Chirac, of the Republic of France, to convene an International Conference on the Middle East, in view of the present deadlock in the peace process;

7. URGES the United Nations and the international community to guarantee Israel's full compliance with the resolutions adopted by the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency that stipulate the use of Israel's nuclear installations for peaceful purposes and compel it to open its nuclear installations to international inspection.  The Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency warned of the grave threats that may be posed by radiation leaks from the Daemona reactor, in the absence of international inspection.

8. REAFFIRMS ITS SUPPORT for the proposal made by H.E. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of the Arab Republic of Egypt to declare the Middle East an area free of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction;

9. URGES the Government of Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to refrain from the manufacture, production, testing and possession of nuclear weapons and to place its nuclear installations under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

CM/Dec.458 (LXX)

Decision on the Report of the Secretary-General

on the Question of Palestine

(Doc.CM/2104 (LXX))

Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the report;

2. REAFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their right to return to their country, recover their property, self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on their national soil, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the principles and resolutions of international legitimacy and reaffirm on their support to the struggle of the Palestinian people to achieve those rights;

3. EXPRESSES ITS GRAVE CONCERN at the deadlock in the peace process during the past three years and especially after the decision taken by the former Government of Israel to freeze its obligations contained in the Wye River Memorandum;

4. CALLS UPON the Government of Israel to immediately halt all its settlement activities and provocative measures in Jerusalem and all the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 in compliance with UNSC resolution 465 and in conformity with the terms of agreements concluded between the PLO, the representative of the Palestinian people and the Government of Israel;

5. AFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian people to declare their State on their land with East Jerusalem as its capital, as this is the central goal underlying the struggle of the Palestinian people and AFFIRMS their natural, political and moral right to self-determination on their national soil, particularly as the five years of the transitional period came to an end on 4 May 1999, according to the Palestinian-Israeli Accords;

6. CALLS ON Israel to immediately halt its confiscation of Palestinian territories and especially in Jerusalem and its suburbs and its expansion of settlements, which constitute violations of resolutions 242, 338, 465 and 478, adopted by the Security Council and threaten the peace process with collapse.  It also affirms that Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967, is an indivisible part of the Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967 and all that applies to the occupied territories applies to it, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly and Security council resolutions.

7. CALLS UPON States Parties to participate in the conference to implement the Fourth Geneva Convention on the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, to be held on 15 July 1999, in accordance with UNGA resolution ES-10/6 of 9 February 1999;

8. AFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and recover their property in line with the fundamental principles of human rights and the resolutions of international legitimacy and particularly United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III) and Security Council resolution 237 (1967), since the right to return is one of the fundamental principles of a just and comprehensive peace in the region;

9. FURTHER REAFFIRMS that a guarantee of respect for agreements and other sources of international law is indispensable for the maintenance of international peace and security, CALLS for an accurate implementation of all peace agreements and URGES the parties sponsoring the peace process, the parties concerned and the entire international community to deploy all the required efforts to revive the peace process and ensure its success;

10. HAILS the call of the Palestinian National Authority to hold Bethlehem 2000 celebrations in honour of the anniversary of the birth of Christ and CALLS ON all Member States to give these celebrations the attention they deserve, so as to ensure their success on the path to peace and hope in the Middle East, and EXPRESSES ITS APPRECIATION for the serious efforts and preparations made by the Palestinian National Authority to celebrate this important religious and historical occasion.

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