Mideast situation/Lebanon – LAS resolution – LAS letter

Letter dated 10 October 2001 from the Permanent Observer for the

League of Arab States to the United Nations addressed

to the President of the Security Council

 

 In accordance with Article 54 of the Charter of the United Nations, I have the honour to transmit herewith resolution No. 6115, dated 10 September 2001, entitled “Solidarity with the Republic of Lebanon”, which was adopted by the League of Arab States Council of Ministers at its one hundred and sixteenth regular session, held on 9 and 10 September 2001 at the League of Arab States headquarters in Cairo.

  I should be grateful if you would draw the attention of the members of the Security Council to this letter and its annex, and have them circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Dr. Hussein Hassouna
Ambassador

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Annex to the letter dated 10 October 2001 from the Permanent Observer for the League of Arab States to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council

[Original: Arabic]

Solidarity with Lebanon

  The Council of Ministers of the League of Arab States,

  Having considered the note of the General Secretariat, the note of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon and the recommendation of the Political Affairs Committee,

  Referring to resolution No. 205 of 28 March 2001, adopted at the Arab Summit of Amman held in March 2001, paragraph 6 of which deals with the question of activating the Lebanon Support Fund to assist the Government of Lebanon to rebuild and develop the country, especially the areas freed from Israeli occupation, and of supporting the request which Lebanon addressed to the States members of the League asking them to adopt and finance development and other projects in south Lebanon and the western Bekaa,

 1.   Strongly condemns Israel, which continues to occupy Lebanese territory and positions on the Lebanese frontier, still detains Lebanese in its prisons, refuses to hand over to the United Nations all the maps indicating the location of mines laid by the forces of occupation and continues to infringe the sovereignty of Lebanon, on land, on sea and in the air; denounces the Israeli attacks and threats against Lebanon and Syria; and considers that any attack against these two countries will be deemed an attack against the Arab nation;

 2.  Reaffirms its support for Lebanon, which:

 (a)   Seeks to liberate the rest of its territory, including the farms of Shab’ a, from Israeli occupation as far as the internationally recognized frontiers, in accordance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978), while reserving the right to combat this occupation by all legitimate means;

 (b)   Demands the release of Lebanese prisoners and detainees who are being held as hostages in Israeli prisons in violation of the rules of international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and The Hague Convention of 1907, while reserving the right to secure the release of these prisoners and detainees by all legitimate means;

 (c)   Demands the removal of the tens of thousands of mines abandoned by the Israeli occupier, and holds Israel responsible for laying these mines and for the deaths and injuries which they have caused among the civilian population;

 (d)   Reaffirms the right it has over its territorial waters, in accordance with international law, given the Israeli designs;

 3.   Requests the international community and the international political and judicial bodies:

 (a)   To prevail upon Israel to compensate Lebanon for the damage and losses suffered as a result of the repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory before, during and after the occupation;

 (b)   To endeavour to arrange for representatives of ICRC and other humanitarian organizations to meet regularly with the Lebanese detainees and check on their situation, especially their health;

 (c)   To take steps to ensure that the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations adopts a resolution providing for an investigation into the deaths of persons held in Israeli prisons and the payment of compensation to those affected by such deaths, in accordance with international law and international conventions;

 4.   Reaffirms the right to return of Palestinian refugees and emphasizes that the failure to solve the question of the refugees living in Lebanon — by allowing them to return home in accordance with resolution 194 of 1949 — or the attempts to settle them will jeopardize security and stability in the region and constitute an obstacle to the establishment of a just and comprehensive peace;

 5.   Thanks the member States and the Arab funds which have provided assistance, especially financial aid, to the Government of Lebanon; requests the other States to fulfil the commitments made at Arab summit conferences with respect to assistance to Lebanon and its struggling people, the activation of the Lebanon Support Fund, and the provision of assistance to the Government of Lebanon to enable it to rebuild and develop the country, especially the areas freed from Israeli occupation; and supports the request which Lebanon addressed to the member States to adopt and finance development and other projects;

 6.   Establishes a mechanism to manage the Lebanon Support Fund;

 7.   Decides to finance the following two projects in south Lebanon and the western Bekaa:

 (a)   A project in the amount of approximately $15 million to equip four hospitals which the southern council has built in the towns of Qana, Bent Jubayl, Mays al-Jabal and Mashghara but which it has not been able to equip with the aid of local financing sources;

 (b)   A project in the amount of $20 million for the development of the Ayn al-Zarqaa waters in the western Bekaa to benefit the regions of Rashia al-Wadi, the western Bekaa, Marj’uyun and Bent Jubayl and in this way satisfy the drinking-water requirements of approximately 60 towns and villages.