Israeli practices/OPT/Golan – PLO letter – Letter from Iraq

Letter dated 13 July 1988 from the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

On instructions from my Government, I have the honour to transmit herewith the text of the letter dated 11 July 1988 addressed to you by Mr. Zuhdi Labib Terzi, Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization, on the subject of Israeli practices in the occupied territories.

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as an official document of the General Assembly, under items 37, 40 and 77 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Ismat KITTANI

Permanent Representative

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ANNEX

Letter dated 11 July 1988 from the Permanent Observer of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I am instructed by Mr. Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization to bring the following to your immediate attention.

On Sunday, 3 July 1988, a number of Israelis accompanied by "Security forces and frontier guards", started digging in the vicinity of Bab Al Ghawanmeh, one of the entrances of Al Haram Al Shareef.  They dug to 14 metres below the surface.  The declared aim of this dig was to "repair the water pipes".  Such a dig endangers the historic and Islamic sites in the area.  Furthermore, the digging of a tunnel will connect Bab Al-Ghawanmeh to the north-east of Al Haram Al Shareef , and Bab Al Magharbeh to the south of the Holy Sanctuary. It is anticipated that this tunnel could be used by Israeli elements to introduce arms from Bab Al Magharbeh to the heart of the Islamic quarter.

The immediate reaction of the Palestinian people was to prevent the digging. However, members of the so-called Israeli security forces opened fire with live ammunition, rubber bullets and toxic CN and CS gas.

In this context we wish to recall the relevant decisions adopted by UNESCO and the Executive Board of UNESCO. Moreover, the Government of Israel, specifically the so-called Ministry of Religious Affairs which should have consulted and co-ordinated with the Islamic Waqf, failed to seek relevant permission from the Municipal Authorities to undertake such a dig.

In other developments in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories Israel has promulgated additional restrictive measures denying Palestinian children presently in places of dispersion, from "family reunions". According to these new regulations, the names of children are deleted from permits issued to mothers to facilitate family reunifications in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is obvious that such regulations preventing children from accompanying their mothers, will result in a reluctance on the part of Palestinian mothers to travel to the occupied Palestinian territories for family reunification.

Such inhuman measures can only be seen as one further step in the implementation of Zionist aspirations and designs to ensure the exclusivist demographic nature of their dream land. This latest draconian measure comes at a time when many Palestinians with permits for family reunification have shown a reluctance to do so, as a consequence of Israel's arrest of a good number of those who returned for that purpose.

Furthermore, Israeli occupation troops have escalated their repressive and brutal methods. We shall cite a few examples of such manifestations. The occupying power has decided to extend the order closing, educational institutions until 8 August 1988, depriving 12,000 Palestinians from pursuing their education. The number of students detained by the occupying Power is approximately 1,000 at university level, and 7,000 at the secondary and high school level.

In Bethlehem, a number of municipal council members, merchants and professionals issued a statement on 8 July 1988, deploring the inhuman measures used by the occupying Power against the Palestinian people, such measures as the demolition of houses, mass arrests, confiscation of property, collective punishment, and arbitrary "administrative" arrests.

The Palestinian town of Jenin is today entering its eighth day under curfew. On 8 July 1988, at dawn, Israeli armoured vehicles attacked the village of Bala'a, near Nablus. Israeli troops opened fire resulting in the wounding of many Palestinians.

At Fara'a refugee camp, Israeli troops opened fire on the refugees, as well as using toxic CN and CS gas, causing respiratory distress among several Palestinians, including two-year-old Haneen Fareed Shehab, and her seven-month-old infant brother, Tamer.

Palestinians in the occupied territories are exercising one of their rights by refusing to pay taxes to the occupying Power, which has responded by confiscating the identity cards of thousands of Palestinians. Consequently, those Palestinians whose identity cards have been confiscated are under "voluntary house arrest" inasmuch as Palestinians stopped by Israeli troops and found to be without identity cards are immediately arrested and detained.

On Sunday, 10 July 1988, Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians in the Askar refugee camp, and shot 17-year-old Zubdi Mansour Al-Zraiqi in the thighs. Israeli troops then allowed him to bleed to death by withholding medical attention.

Palestinians in the Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon are at this time faring no better, and have been subjected to shelling and bombardment f rom positions under the control of the Syrian armed forces in Lebanon, specifically in Raml el Ali and south of Beirut airport. The attacks against the camp are being led by the Syrian army General Ghazi Kana'an on 7 July 1988, under cover of shelling and bombardment, Syrian forces occupied positions to the west of the refugee camp. Palestinians from the Sidon area rallying to help Palestinians under seige in Burj Al-Barajneh were encircled by Syrian forces on the highway between Sidon and Khalde. Moreover, Syrian forces prevented an Algerian medical team from entering the camp and denied entry to the Palestine Red Crescent endeavouring to evacuate the sick and wounded from the Haifa Hospital (in Burj Al-Barajneh) after it had been partially destroyed by Syrian shelling.

In bringing the aforementioned to your attention, the Palestine Liberation organization requests that adequate measures be taken to provide immediate international protection to the Palestinian people, and that an immediate end be sought to the brutal and inhuman treatment of our people under occupation.

(Signed)  Zuhdi Labib TERZI

Permanent Observer

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