Mideast situation/Lebanon – Letter from Lebanon/Addendum

Letter dated 23 May 2000 from the Permanent Representative of

Lebanon to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Further to my letters dated 12, 15 and 19 May 2000, I have the honour to enclose herewith a letter and a map addressed to Your Excellency, by Mr. Salim El-Hoss, President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Lebanon, on the subject of the Shebaa Farms.

I kindly request that this enclosure, map and letter, be circulated as an official document of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly, under agenda item 43, and of the Security Council, as a second addendum to document number A/54/870-S/2000/443.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Signed) Selim Tadmoury

Ambassador

Permanent Representative

Annex to the letter dated 23 May 2000 from the Permanent

Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations addressed

to the Secretary-General

[Original: Arabic]

Beirut, 19 May 2000

With reference to my telephone conversation with you today and further to our previous letters concerning Lebanon’s position with respect to the Shab`a farmlands, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the map of the cadastral survey in the Shab`a farmlands area as agreed between Lebanon and Syria on 27 March 1946 and signed by the two magistrates entrusted with the delimitation of the boundaries, namely Mr. Adnan al-Khatib (Syria) and Mr. Rafiq al-Ghazzawi (Lebanon). As signed by the two magistrates at the bottom, the map says that “the boundaries separating the two villages, Mughr and Shab`a, are final”, so that in the 1960s they became the international boundaries as a result of the agreement of subsequent commissions (see the documents previously submitted).

In looking at the map, there is clearly visible a boundary line numbered from 4 to 39 and then 56, so that north of that line falls the territory of the Lebanese Republic, including all the Shab`a farmlands, while Syrian territory is located south of the line. It should also be mentioned that the Syrian-Lebanese boundary line is located at a distance that varies between a minimum of 500 metres and a maximum of 120 metres north of the Baniyas-Marj Uyun road, which is shown on all of the military and civilian maps in circulation.

This map, the original of which is in the possession of the Lebanese Government, proves incontrovertibly that the Shab`a farmlands are subject to Lebanese sovereignty.

Any failure to take account of such irrefutable documents and cogent evidence or the adoption of any other view of the matter will constitute gross and unwarranted prejudice to Lebanon’s interests and a violation of its sovereignty. This is particularly so since the area indicated is unequivocally Lebanese and is not in dispute. Lebanon and its people would find it astonishing if any injustice were done to them in this regard, particularly when it is the United Nations that is the legal authority that safeguards the rights of States.

(Signed) Sélim El-Hoss

Prime Minister

Minister for Foreign Affairs