Mideast situation/Palestine question – GCC Supreme Council twenty-sixth session/Closing statement – Letter from United Arab Emirates (excerpts)

Letter dated 15 February 2006 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. 

of the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the

United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

  I have the honour to transmit herewith the final communiqué and the Abu Dhabi Declaration adopted by the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council at its twenty-sixth session, held in Abu Dhabi on 18 and 19 December 2005, under the chairmanship of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi (see annex).

  I would be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly under agenda items 14, 15, 24, 31, 38, 48, 52, 57, 61, 62, 94, 100, 106, 107 and 108, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Mohammed Al-Otaiba

First Secretary

Chargé d’affaires a.i.

Annex to the letter dated 15 February 2006 from the

Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the

United Arab Emirates to the United Nations addressed

to the Secretary-General 

[Original: Arabic]

…

Closing statement of the Supreme Council of the Gulf

Cooperation Council at its twenty-sixth session

Abu Dhabi — the United Arab Emirates

16 and 17 Dhu’lqa`dah A H 1426, corresponding to 18 and 19 December 2005

“The King Fahd Summit”

…

  The Supreme Council reviewed developments on the Palestinian front and in the Middle East peace process and expressed the hope that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and some settlements in the West Bank, while a step in the right direction, would be followed by steps towards a total withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian lands so as to enable the brotherly Palestinian people to build their independent State on their national soil with Jerusalem as its capital.

  In this regard, the Supreme Council reaffirmed the commitment of GCC States to the Arab peace initiative declared by the 2002 Beirut Summit based on internationally recognized resolutions, and stressed the compatibility of that initiative with the road map.

  The Council also reaffirmed that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East would be achieved only through the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, supported by the necessary components, with Jerusalem as its capital. The Council also stressed the need for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Arab Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 and from the Shaba farmlands in southern Lebanon.

  The Supreme Council demanded that Israel desist from its arbitrary practices against defenceless Palestinians, including ending targeted assassinations, stopping settlement activity and evacuating settlements, ceasing construction of the separation wall and removing the sections that have already been built, and preventing threats issued by extremist Jewish groups calling for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Council stressed that such threats could only inflame Muslim sensibilities, as they related to violations of their holy places, which would destroy the peace process.

  The Council demanded that Israel accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and subject all of its nuclear facilities to the international inspections regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and asked the international community to apply pressure on Israel to do so.

  The Supreme Council renewed its demand to make the Middle East, including the Gulf region, into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

  The Supreme Council reviewed recent developments in Lebanon and expressed its condemnation of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in an act of criminal aggression directed against him and his comrades after a life of dedicated service to the security, stability and development of Lebanon. It also condemned the repeated assassination of leaders and symbols of the Lebanese people, stressing the desire of GCC States to support political, security and economic stability for the Lebanese people.   The Council called on its brothers in Lebanon to work to mend the rift between them, to preserve the unity and cohesion of Lebanon, and to provide security, stability and well-being for its brotherly people. The Council condemned repeated Israeli threats, violations and attacks on Lebanese sovereignty and independence.

  The Council expressed its satisfaction with the Syrian Arab Republic’s receptiveness to Security Council resolution 1644 (2005) regarding the International Independent Investigation Commission, emphasizing the concern of GCC States for the sovereignty, independence, unity and security of both Syria and Lebanon.

…

Abu Dhabi

Monday, 17 Dhu’lqa`da AH 1426, corresponding to 19 December 2005 

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