Middle East situation/Palestine question – Final communiqué of OIC FMs Annual Coordination meeting – Letter from Mali

Letter dated 17 January 2002 from the Permanent Representative of Mali

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

  I have the honour, in my capacity as Chairman of the Islamic Group, to transmit herewith the text of the final communiqué adopted at the Annual Coordination Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, held at the United Nations Headquarters on 15 November 2001 (see annex).

  I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the fifty sixth session of the General Assembly under agenda items 10, 20, 21 (d), 25, 41, 42, 43, 48, 49, 52, 55, 58, 62, 71, 77, 87, 88, 101, 118 and 166, and of the Security Council.

(Signed ) Moctar Ouane
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Mali to
the United Nations

Annex to the letter dated 17 January 2002 from the

Permanent Representative of Mali to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

Final communiqué of the Annual Coordination Meeting of Foreign Ministers

of the Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference

United Nations – New York

30 Shaa'ban 1422H

15 November 2001

1. The Annual Coordination Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the OIC Member States, was convened on 30 Shaa'ban 1422H (15 November 2001) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, under the Chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Modibo Sidibe, Foreign Minsiter of the Republic of Mali, Chairman of the 28th Islamic conference of Foreign Ministers.

2. The Meeting was addressed by His Excellency Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative fo Afghanistan, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

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The question of Palestine, Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and the Arab-Israeli conflict

8. The Meeting reiterated its unwavering support for the Palestinian people and the realization of their inalienable rights, including the establishment of their own independent state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. The Meeting reaffirmed the centrality of the issue of Al-Quds Al-Sharif to the entire Islamic Ummah, and stressed the absolute necessity for regaining Palestinian sovereignty over Al-Haram Al-Sharif and other Islamic and Christian sites of the city.

9. The Meeting expressed grave concern at the continuation of the Israeli bloody military campaign against the Palestinian people, which began on 28 September 2000. The Meeting condemned the excessive use of force by Israel, the occupying Power, resulting in extensive loss of Palestinian life, injuries, and widespread destruction of Palestinian homes and property.  The Meeting also condemned other Israeli measures and practices, such as the imposition of closures, extra-judicial killings, the reoccupation of areas under full Palestinian control, and the continuation of colonial activities in the form of building and expanding illegal settlements in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

10. The Meeting reaffirmed its support for a peaceful solution of the question of Palestine, the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the establishment of a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.  The Meeting stressed the need for fresh and qualitative efforts to bring the Middle East peace process back to life and to take it to its successful conclusion on its agreed basis – Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the principle of land for peace. The Meeting, in this regard, reaffirmed the absolute necessity for ending the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territory, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif.

11. The Meeting stressed the permanent responsibility of the United Nations towards the question of Palestine, and in this regard, stressed also the responsibility of the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. The Meeting reiterated its support for resolutions and initiatives related to the question of Palestine at the United Nations. The Meeting expressed appreciation for the efforts of the OIC Committee on Palestine at the United Nations, and the Al-Quds Committee, for its valuable work on this central issue.

12. The Meeting condemned Israel's policy of refusal to comply with Security Council resolution no. 497 of 1981, the imposition of its laws, jurisdiction and administration over the occupied Syrian Golan, as well as its policy of annexation, establishment of colonial settlements, land confiscation, diverting water resources and imposing Israeli nationality on Syrian citizens of the occupied Golan. The Meeting also underlined that all such measures are null and void and constitute a blatant violation of the principles of international law, and in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949; and demanded that Israel withdraw fully from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4, 1967. The Meeting reiterated its support for the Middle East peace process according to the Madrid terms of reference, based on the United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and land for peace principle.

13. The Meeting called for an end to the continuing Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and reaffirmed the absolute necessity for the immediate Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese Shab'a farmlands. Furthermore, the Meeting demanded that Israel release the Lebanese detainees in Israeli jails, and expressed support for maintaining the present mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and for providing assistance in the demining activities in South Lebanon.

14. The Meeting urged the international community and the Security Council to compel Israel to abide by United Nations resolutions, specially Security Council resolution no. 487 of 1981; insist that it joins the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and implements the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly and of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to which all Israeli nuclear installations must be subjected to the Agency's system of comprehensive guarantees; and request that Israel publicly renounce nuclear armaments and submits a complete statement on its capabilities and reserves in terms of nuclear arms and substances to both the Security Council and the IAEA, as a pre-requisite to the creation of an area free of weapons of mass destruction, foremost among which are the nuclear ones, in the Middle East and the establishment of a comprehensive and just peace in the region.

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