Assistance to the Palestinian people – Letter from Iraq

Letter dated 19 December 2000 from the Permanent Representative of Iraq

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a letter dated 19 December 2000 from Mr. Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iraq. The Minister requests you to instruct those responsible for the Iraq Programme in the Secretariat to cooperate with Iraq in including food, medicine and other basic necessities for the people of Palestine in the distribution plan for phase IX under the memorandum of understanding of 20 May 1996, for a total value of 700 million euros, and he asks you to approve an appropriate mechanism for the transfer of 300 million euros for the relief of the families of those killed and wounded in the valiant Jerusalem intifadah and of those whose homes and property have been damaged by the brutal Zionist aggression.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Saeed H. Hasan

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 19 December 2000 from the Permanent Representative

of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I should like, first and foremost, to confirm the terms of my letter dated 10 December 2000 addressed to you (S/2000/1174, annex). I should also like to state that the relevant Iraqi authorities have begun, in accordance with the procedures established by the memorandum of understanding of 20 May 1996 (S/1996/356), to prepare the list of items for the procurement and distribution plan for phase IX.

In implementation of the decision taken by Iraq’s political leadership on 9 December 2000 to allocate the sum of 1 billion euros from the assets of the fraternal people of Iraq to meet the needs of the fraternal people of Palestine, the aforesaid Iraqi authorities shall, in consultation with the fraternal Palestinians, include food, medicine and other basic necessities for the people of Palestine in the procurement and distribution plan for phase IX under the memorandum of understanding, for a total value of 700 million euros out of the total sum of 1 billion euros. Accordingly, I request you to instruct those responsible for the Iraq Programme in the Secretariat and in the Office of the Coordinator of the Programme in Iraq to cooperate with us in this regard.

The political leadership of Iraq has allocated 300 million euros from the 1-billion-euro sum for assistance to the families of those killed and wounded in the valiant Jerusalem intifadah and to those whose homes and property have been damaged by the brutal Zionist aggression. We have informed the fraternal Palestinians that Iraq deems it appropriate to place this sum under the administration of the Supreme Committee of the leadership of the valiant Jerusalem intifadah. With regard to modalities for delivery of the sum in question to the Palestinians for whom it is intended, we and our Palestinian brothers stand ready to reach agreement with you on an appropriate mechanism for this purpose.

I hope that the requests and proposals we have made will receive your attention and support so that the procurement and distribution plan can be approved as quickly as possible and the authorities concerned can begin to conclude the contracts necessary to secure the requirements of the Palestinian people in addition to those of the fraternal people of Iraq.

(Signed) Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq