Situation in the OPT – Letter from CEIRPP Chairman

Letter dated 20 January 1988 from the Chairman of

the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the

Palestinian People addressed to the Secretary-General 

In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I wish once again to draw your urgent attention to the continuing deterioration of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular, to the increasingly systematic use by Israel of collective punishment against Palestinians

Since my last letter, dated 12 January 1988 (A/43/86-S/19424), a number of grave incidents have taken place. On 15 January 1988, Ha'aretz reported that the army was imposing "economic curfews" on refugee camps, preventing residents from leaving the camps and thus cutting off more than 250,000 Palestinians from their sources of income. Reuter reported on 18 January that at the Nuseirat refugee camp south of Gaza, Israeli soldiers had seized and destroyed food that Palestinian women had been trying to take into the camp under curfew. Quoting UNRWA and the Red Crescent Relief Agency, the same source stated that there were serious shortages of food in the eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, where more than 200,000 Palestinian refugees have been living under curfew for a period of one to two weeks.

According to UPI, Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Minister of Defence, said on 19 January that the army would block emergency food shipments to the refugee camps in the west Bank and the Gaza Strip "as long as Palestinian shopkeepers continue commercial strikes in support of anti-Israeli protests".  The New York Times reported, on the same date, that curfews were still in effect in all refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.  In the West Bank, where curfews in six of the 15 refugee camps were reported to have been lifted in recent days, curfews were still in place at various times of the day.

Several violent incidents have also taken place.  On 13 January, UPI reported that two Palestinians had been killed by the army, one near Ramallah, and the second, a boy, in Gaza. UPI reported on 15 January that Israeli police and troops had fired tear gas on worshippers at the Al-Aqsa shrine, injuring more than 90 people.  Several canisters of tear gas were also fired into the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosques.  Three of the injured were admitted to hospital in serious condition

On 19 January, UPI reported that Israeli soldiers had shot and wounded a Palestinian man during a clash with demonstrators in the village of Mazraah El-Shargiya, north of Ramallah. It was also reported that a Palestinian woman in Sair, south of Jerusalem, had been shot and wounded by the army during a demonstration

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People wishes to express once again its utmost concern at these policies and practices of Israel, the occupying Power, which are in clear violation of the basic rights of the Palestinian people, of United Nations resolutions and of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949. The Committee is particularly concerned by the imposition of collective punishment on the entire Palestinian population, which can only exacerbate tension and further hamper international efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine.

The Committee appeals to you to take all possible measures to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, particularly to ensure the continuous supply of food and other necessities to the refugee camps. Further, the Committee reiterates its appeal for the intensification of efforts by all concerned to bring about a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine, in accordance with United Nations resolutions, in particular through the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 38/58 C of 13 December 1983.

I should be grateful if you would have this letter circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under the item entitled "Question of Palestine", and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Massamba SARRE

Chairman of the Committee on the

Exercise of the Inalienable Rights

of the Palestinian People