Situation in the OPT/Hebron/Ibrahimi Mosque – Letter from Palestine

Letter dated 7 November 1994 from the Permanent Observer

for Palestine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have been instructed to bring the following to your attention:

Israel, the occupying Power, has introduced certain measures dividing Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi in the city of Al-Khalil in the occupied Palestinian territory.  Although those measures are portrayed by the Israeli Government as security measures for the purpose of decreasing tension, the fact of the matter remains that the measures are aimed at creating a new illegal de facto situation, attempting to establish Israeli rights with regard to Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi.

The presence of the Israeli settlers is illegal, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 and several Security Council resolutions. Those settlers were brought there illegally, were maintained illegally, and should not be accorded any rights or privileges.  Attempts to legitimize their presence should be opposed and condemned by the international community. Al-Khalil remains a Palestinian-Arab city and Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi remains a Palestinian-Arab Islamic shrine, and their status should not be tampered with.

In addition, the Israeli measures mentioned above violate the spirit and letter of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, signed on 13 September 1993 by the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Government of Israel (A/48/486-S/26560, annex).

I would be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter distributed as an official document of the General Assembly, under agenda items 38, 40 and 78, and of the Security Council.

(Signed)  Nasser AL-KIDWA        

Permanent Observer of Palestine

to the United Nations     

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