Human rights situation in the OT – Note verbale from LAS

Note verbale dated 1 March 1994 from the Permanent Mission of

the League of Arab States to the United Nations Office at

Geneva, addressed to the Under-Secretary-General

for Human Rights

The Permanent Mission of the League of Arab States to the United Nations Office at Geneva presents its compliments to the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and has the honour to transmit herewith the resolutions adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States at the conclusion of its extraordinary meeting held on 27 February 1994 following the massacre of Palestinians at prayer in the Hebron mosque on 25 February 1994.  The Permanent Mission of the League of Arab States wishes to express its grave concern at the deterioration in the situation of the Palestinian civilian population in the territories occupied by Israel, and requests the Centre for Human Rights to consider this report as an official document and to distribute it to the members of the Commission on Human Rights at its fiftieth session.

ISRAELI SLAUGHTER OF PALESTINIANS IN THE IBRAHIM MOSQUE

The Council of the League of Arab States, meeting in extraordinary session on 17 Ramadan 1414 H, corresponding to 27 February 1994,

Having taken note of:

The message from Mr. Yasser Arafat, President of the State of Palestine and Chief of the Executive Committee of the PLO, concerning the slaughter perpetrated by Israeli settlers inside the Ibrahim Mosque in the town of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, a slaughter which resulted in the deaths of dozens of martyrs and the wounding of hundreds of Palestinian faithful, and

The memorandum prepared by the General Secretariat, and

Having followed the developments resulting from this incident and its disastrous repercussions, and the deliberations which have taken place on this question,

1. Condemns the Israeli crime perpetrated against the unarmed Palestinian faithful inside the Holy Ibrahim Mosque on 15 Ramadan 1414 H, corresponding to 25 February 1994, and considers it as an act of terrorism;

2. Attributes to the Israeli occupation authorities responsibility for this crime and for the other criminal acts committed by Israeli settlers, with the help of the practices and measures put into effect by these authorities, and demands that they immediately disarm the settlers;

3. Reiterates the appeal contained in Council of the League resolution 5269, adopted at its extraordinary session held on 11 and 12 January 1993, inviting the United Nations to establish an appropriate mechanism for the implementation of the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention through the establishment of an international force for the protection of Arab citizens in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, in accordance with the provisions of Security Council resolution 681 (1990), and invites the two States co-sponsoring the Madrid Conference to ensure, on the basis of their particular responsibility for the success of the peace process, the necessary protection for the Palestinian people in the occupied territories;

4. Calls upon the Security Council to send an international committee of inquiry to the site of this serious incident and to take all necessary measures to enable it to fulfil its mission;

5. Invites the Security Council, and in particular the two States co-sponsoring the Peace Conference, immediately to implement the Council resolutions determining that the Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories are illegal and constitute a serious obstruction to the achievement of a just and comprehensive peace, in particular resolution 465 (1980) providing for the dismantling of the existing settlements and the cessation of the planning of any new settlements in the occupied territories, including Jerusalem;

6. Invites the two States co-sponsoring the Peace Conference to work seriously towards the success of the peace efforts by putting an end to Israeli procrastination and to the occupation of the Arab territories and by permitting the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable national rights, including its right to self-determination and to the establishment of its independent State, with Holy Jerusalem as its capital;

7. Considers the 15 Ramadan of each year a Day of Commemoration of the anniversary of the deaths of the victims of the slaughter at the Holy Ibrahim Mosque, and urges international public opinion to do likewise, with a view to reminding the international community of inhuman Israeli practices;

8. Calls upon the Arab States to furnish all forms of assistance to the families of the Palestinian victims, both dead and wounded;

9. Instructs the Secretary-General to continue his contacts with all international agencies with a view to ensuring the implementation of this resolution, and to urge those agencies to take all measures to guarantee protection of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

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