OIC extraordinary meeting of Foreign Ministers – Final communique, Letter from Libya

QUESTION OF PALESTINE THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

RECENT ILLEGAL ISRAELI MEASURES IN THE OCCUPIED ARAB TERRITORIES DESIGNED

TO CHANGE THE LEGAL STATUS, GEOGRAPHICAL NATURE AND DEMOGRAPHIC

COMPOSITION OF THOSE TERRITORIES IN CONTRAVENTION OF THE PRINCIPLES

OF THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS, OF ISRAEL'S INTERNATIONAL

OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949 AND OF UNITED NATIONS

RESOLUTIONS, AND OBSTRUCTION OF EFFORTS AIMED AT ACHIEVING A JUST AND LASTING

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Letter dated 5 October 1977 from the Permanent Representative of the

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the United Nations addressed

to the Secretary-General

In my capacity as the current Chairman of the Islamic Group, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the text of the final communique of the extraordinary meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Conference, held in New York on 3 October 1977.

I should be grateful if you would kindly have the text of this final communiqué circulated as a document of the General Assembly under agenda items 30, 31 and 126.

(Signed) Mansur R. KIKHIA

Permanent Representative of the

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the United Nations

Current Chairman of the Islamic Group

ANNEX

Final communique of the extraordinary meeting of Foreign Ministers of

the Islamic Conference, held in New York on 3 October 1977

1. The Foreign Ministers of the States members of the Islamic Conference held an extraordinary meeting in New York on 3 October 1977 to consider the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine in the light of recent developments.

2. The meeting reviewed the seriously deteriorating situation in the Middle East resulting from the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories, the extension of Israeli laws to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the accelerated pace of colonization and Israeli settlements in those areas the and escalation of Israeli practices and violations in the area, and considered that such measures constitute a most serious obstacle to the efforts for the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

3. The meeting reaffirmed that Israel's continued occupation of Arab territories by force is illegal and constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

4. The meeting also unanimously agreed that illegal occupation should, under no circumstances, authorize the occupying force to carry out any changes which would affect sovereign and other established rights and that such changes are in contravention of the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. a/

5. The meeting condemned Israel for taking illegal measures in Palestine and in other occupied Arab territories with the objective of changing the geographic, demographic, economic, cultural and historical characteristics of the occupied territories.  Such measures are not compatible with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the relevant resolutions of the United Nations and Israel's obligations under the fourth Geneva Convention.  The meeting considered that such measures are null and void and that they constitute an obstacle to the endeavours towards the achievement of peace in the Middle East.

6. The meeting rejected the statements recently made by the Israeli Government describing the occupied Arab territories as "liberated Israeli lands".

7. The meeting called attention to Israel's persistent violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, as well as its failure to fulfil the fundamental conditions on which it was admitted as a Member of the United Nations under General Assembly resolution 273 (ill) of 11 May 1949 (namely resolutions l8l (II) of 29 November 1947 and 194 (ill) of 27 November 1948).

8. The meeting affirmed that just and lasting peace cannot be established except through the implementation of the two following principles:

Firstly, the withdrawal of Israel from all Arab territories occupied since 5 June 1967 including the City of Jerusalem;

Secondly, the restoration of all the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right of return, their right to self-determination and their right to establish an independent State of Palestine.

9. The meeting took a most ominous view of the uncontested fact that the Israelis are assiduously digging right under the al-Haram al-Shareef sanctuary, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and all the adjacent buildings, mosques, holy shrines, schools and historical places more than a millennium old.  The said diggings assume even more ominous implications, since they represent a vain, desperate and misguided effort to find dome remains of the temple, which they plan to build on a ruined Aqsa Mosque, of the Dome of the Rock.

10. The Conference, which represents 600 million to 700 million adherents of the Islamic faith, and while fully cognizant of their religion's acknowledgement, liberal, tolerant and respectful attitude towards Judaism and other faiths, feels impelled to serve notice that they will not countenance the desecration and eventual destruction of their Holy places in Jerusalem.

11. The Conference, likewise, deems it necessary to assert firmly and categorically that the Islamic World rejects and would not indefinitely tolerate the continued occupation by Israel of the Palestinian and Arab territories, including Jerusalem, and the continued obstruction of Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, who for centuries have been completing their pilgrimage by visiting Jerusalem and praying at the Aqsa Mosque – their first Qubla and the site of the ascension of their prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace).

12. The States members of the Conference, in the meantime, pledge to act individually and collectively to keep their 90,000 beleaguered Muslim and Christian brethren in Jerusalem in a viable and self-sustaining community until their liberation is achieved and, with it, the faith which has sustained us for generations and which will continue to inspire us for ever after. Our effort in this field should be commensurate with the magnitude of the challenge for preservation and survival which they presently face.  In this connexion, the meeting calls upon all members to fulfil their pledges to the Jerusalem Fund. Conference, furthermore, calls upon all Islamic capitals to consider declaring Jerusalem as their twin sister and the possibility of devoting part of their budgets towards the strengthening of the resistance of the citizens of Jerusalem as a concrete gesture of their faiths solidarity and brotherhood towards al-Quds al-Sharif.

13. The meeting calls upon the Secretary-General., the organs and agencies of the United Nations to keep under constant review the explosive and serious situation arising from the most recent Israeli actions and to take adequate steps to put an end to the Israeli policies of settler-colonization and annexation.

14. In this respects the meeting calls upon the Security Council to follow closely the deteriorating situation in the region and to assert its responsibility to maintain international peace and security, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

l5. The meeting calls upon all States Members of the United Nations to endeavour to halt emigration of their citizens to Israel, as such emigration will consolidate the occupation and the establishment of settlements in occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories, resulting in the forced evacuation of the indigenous inhabitants of the occupied territories.

16. The meeting considers it of prime importance that the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People should continue to pursue its task.  In this regard, the meeting invites all the delegations of the Islamic countries to lend their active support towards the achievement of the adoption by the Security Council and by the General Assembly, at their forthcoming meetings, of the report of the Committee, and to keep under close attention the above developments affecting the fulfilment of the Committee's mandate.

17. The meeting calls upon all States Members of the United Nations to desist from assisting the Israeli authorities to exploit the natural resources of the occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories.

18. he meeting calls upon the States and peoples of the world to cease their political, economic and military support of Israel which has, inter alia, enabled Israel to persist in its dilatory tactics and its efforts to prolong its occupation.

19. The meeting, at the same time, invites the Islamic Information Services, as well as all the Islamic countries, to provide extensive dissemination of the work of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people through their media and national information

—-

a/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973, p. 287■


Document symbol: A/32/261
Document Type: Communiqué, Letter
Document Sources: General Assembly, Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Subject: Holy places, Middle East situation, Occupation
Publication Date: 05/10/1977
2019-03-11T22:11:04-04:00

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