Mideast situation – SecGen report under A/RES/42/209 A to D/Addendum

Distr.

GENERAL

A/43/683/Add.1

7 November 1988

ENGLISH

ORIGINAL: RUSSIAN

Forty-third session

Agenda item 40

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Report of the Secretary-General

Addendum

CONTENTS

REPLIES RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic                                     2

BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

[Original: Russian]

[18 October 1988]

1. The position of the Byelorussian SSR on this item has been outlined in statements by Byelorussian representatives at sessions of the General Assembly and its organs, as well as in replies to the Secretary-General's questionnaires, including its reply of 18 November 1987.

2. General Assembly resolution 42/209 A to D contains an unequivocal condemnation of the expansionist policies pursued by Israel against Arab countries and the Palestinian nation, and again reaffirms the overriding need for the full and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all territories occupied by it.

3. The Byelorussian SSR was among the overwhelming majority of States which voted in favour of that resolution at the forty-second session of the General Assembly and which rightly termed Israel's annexationist policies and practices a violation of the United Nations Charter, the principles of international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions.

4. With reference to paragraphs 7 and 11 of resolution 42/209 B, paragraphs 13 and 14 of resolution 42/209 C and paragraph 3 of resolution 42/209 D, which are mentioned in the note by the Secretary-General, the Byelorussian SSR declares that it has no relations of any kind with Israel.

5. The problem of the Middle East is one of the most chronic and intractable issues we face. The Byelorussian SSR is of the view that serious international efforts are needed if real headway is to be made in regard to this explosive region. The key to this is the convening of a plenipotentiary international conference under United Nations auspices with the participation on an equal footing of all interested parties, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Given the extreme complexity of this issue and in order to ensure the successful outcome of such a conference, careful preparatory work is needed.

6. Recent events merely confirm one of the main provisions of resolution 42/209, which is that such a conference is the sole means of arriving at a political settlement of the Middle East conflict.

7. The evolving situation in the Middle East indicates that reliance on military force and on the policy of state terrorism has run its course. Strict observance of the balance of interests of all States in the Middle East is the correct and reliable way to guarantee a safe future for the region.