Mideast peace process – GCC press communiqué – Letter from Bahrain (excerpts)

Letter dated 4 June 2001 from the Permanent Representative of Bahrain

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the pleasure of enclosing the final communiqué of the seventy-ninth session of the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Gulf Arab States, which was held in Jeddah on 2 and 3 June 2001 (see annex).

I would appreciate it if the present letter and its annex were issued as a document of the fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly, under agenda items 40, 56 and 94, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Jassim Buallay

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 4 June 2001 from the Permanent Representative

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

[Original: Arabic]

Press communiqué issued by the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council

at its seventy-ninth session, held in Jeddah on 2 June 2001

On Saturday, 2 June 2001, the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held its seventy-ninth regular session in Jeddah under the chairmanship of His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Bahrain and Chairman-in-Office of the Ministerial Council. The meeting was attended by:

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates;

His Royal Highness Prince Saud al-Faisal, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia;

His Excellency Mr. Yousef Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs of Oman;

His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar; and

His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Kuwait.

His Excellency Sheikh Jamil Ibrahim Al-Hujeilan, GCC Secretary-General, also participated in the meeting.

The Ministerial Council stated that it had been moved by the death of Mr. Faisal al-Husseini, member of the Executive Committee [of the Palestine Liberation Organization] responsible for matters relating to Jerusalem, and it commended the lifelong devotion of the deceased to the service of his country, Palestine, and to the defence of Jerusalem. The Council expressed its condolences to His Excellency Mr. Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, to the family of the deceased and to the fraternal Palestinian people.

In implementation of the instructions of the leaders of the GCC States framed with a view to promoting joint action to achieve the aspirations of the peoples of the region and strengthen security and stability, the Ministerial Council reviewed the outcome of the meetings of the ministerial and technical committees and the major developments that had taken place in connection with political issues and events at the regional, inter-Arab and international levels.

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Political issues

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The Ministerial Council considered the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel’s repressive practices, the blockade and starvation of the Palestinian people, the continuing assaults by the Israeli forces and Israel’s attempts to destroy the peace process, all of which are causing greater instability and plunging the region into a maelstrom of violence. The Council urges the international community to make effective efforts to end Israel’s practices, its violations and its defiance of the international will. The Council renewed its unconditional support for the Palestinian people and for the establishment of its independent State with Jerusalem as its capital, the restoration of all of its usurped rights and the return of the refugees to their homes in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, specifically Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and General Assembly resolution 194 (III), and the principle of land for peace.

The Council welcomed the recommendations contained in the final communiqué of the Follow-Up and Action Committee [of the Council of the League of Arab States] at its emergency meeting held on 19 May 2001 and in the final communiqué of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Doha on 26 May 2001. It urges Israel to refrain from any action that may exacerbate the situation on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts and to embark on negotiations with a view to implementing a full withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the line of 4 June 1967, completing its withdrawal from Lebanese territory, including the Shab`a farmlands, to the internationally recognized boundary in accordance with Security Council resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978), and releasing all the Lebanese prisoners and abductees being held in its prisons.

The Council urges the co-sponsors of the peace process, and especially the United States of America, to make greater efforts to halt the Israeli attacks so that negotiations may resume. It affirms its support for the Palestinian negotiators, and it appeals to the international community to make greater efforts to bring pressure to bear on the Israeli side and to require it to abide by the principles endorsed by the Madrid Peace Conference so that all legitimate Arab rights may be restored.

The Council holds Israel responsible for driving the Palestinian people into a state of frustration with its refusal to comply with the agreements reached, and it calls upon the permanent members of the Security Council to meet their responsibilities by halting the Israeli attacks, by ensuring that the blockade being maintained against the Palestinian people is lifted and by providing international protection.

The Council again calls upon the international community to take action to transform the Middle East region, including the Gulf, into a zone free of all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. The Council affirms once more that Israel must accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and submit all its nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection regime.

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