Israeli practices – Communiqué of NAM Co-ordinating Bureau – Letter from Zimbabwe

Letter dated 15 December 1987 from the Permanent Representative of

Zimbabwe to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honor to forward the enclosed communiqué issued by the Co-ordinating Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries on 15 December 1987, with the request that it be circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 38, and of the Security Council.

ANNEX

Communiqué issued on 15 December 1987 by the Co-ordinating Bureau

of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries

1. The Co-ordinating Bureau of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries held an urgent meeting in New York on Tuesday, 15 December 1987, to consider the current tragic developments in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel.

2. The meeting heard a statement by the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in this regard, with specific reference to the recent dangerous situation created in the occupied Palestinian territories by the renewed acts of violence by the Israeli occupying forces, which have resulted in the killing and wounding of many Palestinian men, women and children.

3. The meeting condemned Zionist Israel for its cold-blooded murder of innocent and defenseless Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as the wounding, arrests and detention of Palestinian youths in the occupied territories. The meeting noted that these atrocities and acts of terrorism constituted one aspect of the "iron fist" policy that the occupying Power, Israel, is already practicing with a view to reinforcing its "creeping annexation" of the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories.

4. The meeting further condemned Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the principles of international law and repeated resolutions of the United Nations. It also reaffirmed that the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War is applicable to the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem, the Syrian Arab Golan and southern Lebanon.

5. The meeting called upon the Security Council to send a fact-finding mission to the occupied Palestinian territories to investigate the situation and to report to the Council as soon as possible. It also warned the international community against the dangers of the continued Zionist arrogance, which jeopardizes international peace and security as well as the peace and stability of the region, especially in the absence of an international deterrent force.

6. The meeting reiterated the Non-Aligned Movement's call upon the United Nations urgently to take effective steps, including the imposition of the sanctions stipulated in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, against Israel with the view to enforcing immediate and total withdrawal and ending the Israeli occupation of all the Palestinian territories as well as other Arab territories, including the city of Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967.

7. The meeting stressed that the conflict and the violence in the region will continue as long as occupation continues and as long as the Palestinian people are prevented from exercising their inalienable rights in their independent homeland. The meeting called once again for a just, lasting and comprehensive solution of the problem of the Middle East, the core of which is the Palestinian problem. In this regard, the meeting emphasized that the key to such a solution lies in the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation of all concerned parties, including the PLO, on an independent and equal footing in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C. It also urged the early establishment of the preparatory committee for the International Peace Conference on the Middle East and stressed the primary responsibility of the Security Council in this regard. It called upon all parties concerned to co-operate in the search for a just and peaceful solution.

8. The meeting reiterated its solidarity with and its firm support for the Palestinian people led by their sole and legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in their struggle against Zionist occupation and for the attainment of their inalienable national rights to return to Palestine, to exercise self-determination and to establish an independent Palestinian state. It appealed once again to all members of the Non-Aligned Movement as well as the international community to give increased support for this legitimate struggle.

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