Situation in the OPT – School closures – Letter from Jordan

LETTER DATED 13 JANUARY 1983 FROM THE CHARGE D'AFFAIRES OF THE

PERMANENT MISSION OF JORDAN TO THE UNITED NATIONS

ADDRESSED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL

I have the honour to forward two letters dated 10 January 1983 and 12 January 1983, from Mr. Hatem Hussaini, Deputy Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization , which I kindly request be circulated as documents of the Security Council.

(Signed) Saad BATAINAH

Minister Plenipotentiary

Chargé d'Affaires a.i.

Annex I

Letter dated 10 January 1983 from the Deputy Permanent Observer of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations addressed to

the President of the Security Council

On instructions from Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, I am requested to bring the following to your rest urgent attention.

Mass demonstrations continued today in the occupied Palestinian West Bank after Israeli measures over the week end to repress demonstrations to commemorate Palestinian Martyrs' Day and the 18th anniversary of the Palestinian revolution.

Israeli military authorities today issued an order closing Nablus’ largest secondary school, Kadri Toukan, for a period of one month. The order followed a mass demonstration through the streets of Nablus by Palestinian students. Nablus was also the scene of protest demonstrations yesterday, and Israeli occupation troops imposed a curfew on the old part of the city. Najah University students organized a rally to mark Martyrs’ Day , and Israeli occupation troops set up check-points to prevent students and townspeople from entering the Palestinian refugee camps.

Zionist settlers from Elan Moreh opened fire yesterday evening on a bus carrying Palestinians. It has become common practice for Zionist settlers to fire at Palestinian civilian vehicles in the Nablus area, particularly during the evenings.

Israeli occupation troops closed the main street in Ramallah today. Shop owners were ordered to close and report to the Israeli military occupation authorities.

Zionist settlers from Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, recently demolished the house of Zayd Jaabari. The settlers also cut municipal power lines. The Hebron municipality held an urgent meeting yesterday to discuss the aggression and blamed the Israeli occupation authorities of complicity with Zionist settlers.

Israeli occupation authorities have closed off 15,000 dunums of Palestinian land belonging to Um Al-Fahm. Israeli military authorities want the land to be used for a military training field. The Um Al-Fahm local council described the rove as a preliminary step before total confiscation. The land is planted with olive trees and is one of the few sources of livelihood for the villagers.

This information is brought to your attention so that you may be kept appraised of the escalated and highly intensified Israeli activities against

Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.

(Signed) Hatem HUSSAINI

Deputy Permanent Observer

Chargé d'Affaires

Annex II

Letter dated 12 January 1983 from the Deputy Permanent Observer of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations addressed to the

President of the Security Council

On instructions from Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, I am requested to bring the following to your most urgent attention.

Israeli occupation troops continue to besiege the area of the Al-Najah University in the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus. Classes have been

disrupted for the third consecutive day. Israeli occupation troops stormed the University library last Monday night and confiscated hundreds of books which had been collected for a book exhibition. The nine members of the University's student council were arrested for interrogation. The Qadri Toukan and King Talah secondary schools in Nablus remain closed as a form of collective punishment against students who participated in an anti-Israeli demonstration last week.

Radio Israeli reported today that 10 Palestinian youths have been arrested in Nablus by Israeli occupation troops for allegedly stoning Israeli military vehicles. The city has been the scene of demonstrations over the past three days against the Israeli occupation authorities' repressive and inhuman measures against the Palestinian population of Nablus and the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Balata.

Israeli occupation troops have launched a massive arrest campaign against the Palestinian population from villages in the Tulkarem area. The pretext for the arrest campaign is the appearance of slogans condemning the prolonged and illegal Israeli occupation on village walls and the hoisting of the Palestinian flag. The Israeli occupation authorities have been exerting pressure on village mukhtars and local Palestinian leaders to sign letters agreeing to the establishment of Israeli village leagues in the area.

There were anti-occupation demonstrations yesterday in Nablus, Balata camp and Ramallah and Dheisheh camps near Bethlehem. Israeli occupation troops opened fire on the demonstrators randomly with sub-machine-guns. Sections of Nablus and Balata camp were placed under curfew. Israeli occupation troops stormed the Al-Najah University. The University's administrative offices were ransacked. Photographs and posters were torn from the walls. The occupation troops confiscated identity cards of six university employees.

The Hebron municipal council has sent a cable to the United Nations Secretary-General protesting the attacks by Zionist settlers from Kiryat Arba

against Palestinian private and public property. Zionist settlers have destroyed four electricity pylons in the city, disrupting service to the northern quarter.

Settlers have also destroyed a Palestinian home on the pretext that it was constructed without a permit.

Today, Zionist settlers from Kiryat Araba threatened to attack "Peace Now" activists who entered Hebron to assist Palestinians in repairing the destroyed electricity pylons.

In drawing your attention to this seriously volatile situation, I am instructed to call upon you to take immediate and effective measures to put an end

to these provocative, repressive and inhuman tactics used by the Israeli occupation troops to incite reaction among the Palestinians under occupation and to create further problems in the area.

(Signed) Hatem HUSSAINI

Deputy Permanent Observer

Chargé d'Affaires

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