Situation in the OPT – Statement by Palestinian writers – Letter from Bahrain

DOCUMENT S/19470*

Letter dated 1 February 1988 from the representative of Bahrain

to the Secretary-General

[Original English]

[1 February 1988]

In my capacity as Chairman of the Group of Arab States for the month of February 1988, I have the honour to transmit herewith a letter dated 1 February 1988, addressed to you by Mr. Zehdi Labib Terzi, Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations.

I should be grateful if you would kindly arrange for the text of this letter and its annex to be circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Karim Ebrahim AL-SHAKAR

Permanent Representative of Bahrain

to the United Nation

*Circulated under the double symbol A/43/116-S/19470.

ANNEX

Letter dated 1 February 1988 from the observer of the Palestine

Liberation Organization to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to enclose herewith an urgent appeal from Palestinian and Arab writers and journalists.

ENCLOSURE

Letter dated 30 January 1988 from Palestinian and Arab writers and

journalists based in Cyprus to the Secretary-General

We, the undersigned Palestinian and Arab writers and journalists based in Cyprus, appeal to you to intervene immediately to halt Israel's brutality and repressive measures against the Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories.

Waves of random killing of innocent and unarmed civilians, together with long food and medical blockades, have been continuing for seven weeks now, with no sight of an end in the coming days, despite great efforts by the international community to this effect.

Loss of life has become a potential threat to every man, woman and child in the occupied Palestinian territories. After being deprived of their national and human rights, Palestinian civilians under occupation have come to the point of losing their very right to life. The beating up of Palestinians of both sexes an all ages by Israeli soldiers has severely shocked the civilized world's conscience. The widely practiced policy of smashing civilians' bones will go down in history as the Zionist State's invention and contribution to modem times. Such Israeli policies contravene the Charter of the United Nations and international conventions, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention, regulating the behaviour of an occupying Power in the territories it occupies.

Journalists and press institutions have hen no exception to the Israeli violence inflicted on the Palestinian people. Scores of journalists have been served with administrative detention and house-arrest orders on emergency-law basis. Palestinian papers and publications have been issued with military distribution bans for lengthy periods, with an eye to silencing Palestinian voices exposing to local and international public opinion Israel's outrageous tyranny and repression. Our colleagues in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are thus prevented from carrying out their professional, national and human duties.

A just and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause, which is the core of the Middle East conflict, is essential to world peace. Any such solution should guarantee the legitimate national rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people; in the forefront are their right to return, to self-determination and to the establishment of an independent State on their national soil under the leadership of the PLO, their own self-opted and internationally recognized sole legitimate representative.

Meanwhile, and in the light of Israel's ongoing atrocities in the occupied territories, we appeal to you to exercise fully the United Nations powers invested in you as Secretary-General to provide international protection for our people under occupation and to urge various United Nations agencies and specialized bodies, as well as the international forum's Member States, to join efforts to safeguard Palestinian lives, holy places and property.

The United Nations Security Council, currently debating the situation in the light of your report, has the obligation before the world to see that its resolutions 605 (1987), 607 (1988) and 608 (1988) are respected and implemented by Israel. Israel's neglect of world opinion and defiance of the Security Council resolutions presents the United Nations with the challenge of proving whether it possesses the tools to implement its resolutions. Sanctions, for which we believe the time has become ripe, are the proper international leverage to enforce upon Israel respect for the international will, ceasing its oppression against the Palestinian people and withdrawing its troops from Palestinian and other Arab territories, including Jerusalem.

Signed by the following Palestinian and Arab writers and journalists based in Cyprus. 1/

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Notes

1/ The 150 signatures are not reproduced in the present Supplement and may be consulted in the files of the Secretariat.