Mideast peace process – GCC press communiqué – Letter from Oman

GENERAL ASSEMBLY SECURITY COUNCIL

Fifty-first session Fifty-first year

Items 33, 53 and 56

  of the preliminary list*

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

CONSEQUENCES OF THE IRAQI OCCUPATION OF

  AND AGGRESSION AGAINST KUWAIT

THE SITUATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Letter dated 4 June 1996 from the Permanent Representative of Oman

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit herewith the text of a press communiqué issued by the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council at its fifty-ninth session, held at Riyadh on 1 and 2 June 1996 under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Yousef Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the General Assembly, under items 33, 53 and 56 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

                                     (Signed)  Salim Bin Mohammed AL-KHUSSAIBY

                                                         Ambassador

                                                  Permanent Representative

________________________

* A/51/50.

96-14316 (E)   110696  120696 /…

ANNEX

[Original:  Arabic]

Press communiqué issued by the Ministerial Council of the

Gulf Cooperation Council at its fifty-ninth session, held

at Riyadh on 1 and 2 June 1996

The Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) held its fifty-ninth regular session at the seat of its secretariat in Riyadh on 1 and 2 June 1996 under the chairmanship of His Excellency Mr. Yousef Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Oman.  The meeting was attended by:

His Excellency Mr. Rashid Bin Abdullah al-Nuaimi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates;

His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bahrain;

His Royal Highness Prince Saud al-Faisal, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia;

His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasim Bin Jabr Al Thani, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Qatar; and

His Excellency Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kuwait.

The Ministerial Council welcomed His Excellency Sheikh Jamil Ibrahim al-Hegelan in his capacity as GCC Secretary-General and wished him success in the formidable tasks entrusted to him in promoting the realization of the hopes and aspirations of the leaders and peoples of the GCC countries.

The Council also welcomed Mr. Abdullah Bin Salih Bin Mubarak, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs, and wished him continued success.

../..

The peace process in the Middle East

The Council discussed recent developments in the peace process in the Middle East in light of the fixed principles embodied in the positions it has adopted in support of the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace based on the terms of reference of the Madrid Peace Conference, particularly Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and the principle of land for peace, a peace that will ensure an end to Israeli occupation of all Arab territory and enable the Palestinian people to assert its legitimate rights, including the right to exercise self-determination and establish an independent State on its native soil.

The Council reiterated its firm stand in support of the Syrian position calling for full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan to the 4 June 1967 boundary line.

Reiterating its strong condemnation of Israeli aggression against Lebanon and reaffirming its full support for and solidarity with the Lebanese people, the Council also affirms the need for adherence to the understanding reached on 27 April 1996 as a preliminary step towards the implementation of Security Council resolution 425 (1978).  It urges the Security Council to compel Israel to pay the compensation required for the repair of facilities and infrastructure destroyed by Israeli attacks and for the human casualties incurred.

In the light of the outcome of the Israeli elections, the Council stressed the need to require the incoming Israeli Government to remain fully and meticulously committed to the implementation of all the agreements reached as part of the peace process in the Middle East, as a strategic option from which there can be no retreat.

In this context, the Council urges the co-sponsors of the Madrid Peace Conference, and particularly the United States of America, to make the greatest efforts to ensure that the peace process continues, that the Palestinian-Israeli agreements are implemented fully and speedily and that serious progress is made towards bringing the final-phase negotiations on such important and basic issues as Jerusalem, the settlements, the refugees and the final status of the occupied Palestinian territories to a positive outcome.  There must also be a speedy resumption of the bilateral negotiations on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks so as to ensure the achievement of tangible progress that will promote the establishment of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.

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