CEIRPP meeting – Summary record

COMMITTEE ON THE EXERCISE OF THE INALIENABLE RIGHTS

OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 150th MEETING

Held at Headquarters, New York,

on Monday, 7 March 1988, at 3 p.m.

Chairman:  Mr. SARRE (Senegal)

CONTENTS

Adoption  of  the  agenda

Draft  programme  of  work  for  1988

Other  matters

     This  record  is  subject  to  correction.

     Corrections  should  be  submitted  in  one  of  the  working  languages.   They  should be set forth  in a  memorandum  and also  incorporated  in  a  copy  of  the  record.   They should  be  sent  within  one week  of the  date of  this  document  to the  Chief,  Official Records  Editing   Section,  Department  of  Conference  Services,  room  DC2-0750,   United Nations  Plaza.

     Any  corrections  to  the  record  of  this  meeting and  of other  meetings  will be issued  in  a  corrigendum.

                   The meeting was called to order at 3.15 p.m.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

1.   The agenda was adopted.

DRAFT PROGRAMME OF WORK FOR 1988 (A/AC.183/1988/CRP.1/Rev.1)

2.   Mr. BORG OLIVIER (Malta), speaking as Chairman of the Working Group, said that the recommendations of the Working Group concerning the draft programme of work (A/AC.183/1988/CRP.1/Rev.1) included a summary of the mandate of the Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights.  The Working Group recommended that the Committee should maintain its past activities and increase its contacts and co-operation with Governments and NGOs; accord utmost priority to the convening of the proposed International Peace Conference on the Middle East and the need to ensure the safety and protection of Palestinians under Israeli occupation; express its concern at legislation adopted by the United States affecting the promotion in the United States and the United Nations of Palestinian rights and exert all efforts to counteract that legislation; and continue to monitor developments and authorize the Bureau and the Chairman to act thereon as appropriate.  It also recommended that the Chairman should, through the Secretary-General, address a letter to all Member States explaining the goals and concerns of the Committee and inviting them to make suggestions and to participate in its work.  Meanwhile, the Committee should strive to make the best use of limited resources in carrying out its programme of seminars and NGO meetings and decide in the course of the year on any adjustments which might become necessary in light of developments.

3.   The draft programme recalled the Committee's decision to hold both the Seminar and the NGO Symposium planned for North America at New York from 27 June to 1 July 1988, to hold the European Seminar at Berlin from 25 to 29 April 1988 and to hold the African Seminar and NGO Symposium at Cairo on a date yet to be decided. The Working Group recommended that the regional seminars should continue to emphasize the urgent need for convening the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the need for mobilizing public opinion in the region concerned and that the Committee should stress the gravity of the situation created by the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied territories.  It also recommended that the programme for the European Seminar, as circulated in Working Paper No. 4, should be adopted and presented some recommendations with respect to ways of improving the effectiveness and impact of the seminars.

4.   The Preparatory Meeting for the North American NGO Symposium had been held at New York on 1 and 2 February 1988, and the Working Group recommended that the programme for that Symposium, contained in Working Paper No. 3, should be adopted. With regard to the European Symposium and the International NGO Meeting, to be held consecutively at Geneva from 29 August to 2 September 1988, the Working Group recommended that the proposals contained in Working Paper No. 1/Rev.1 should be adopted.

5.   The Committee was advised to endorse the proposal of the Division for Palestinian Rights to give priority in 1988-1989 to updating a number of existing studies, as well as to request the Division to consider preparing a variety of other material relevant to the issue.  It was recommended that the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People should be observed on 29 November 1988, that a small task force should be established to assist the Committee in developing a programme to ensure maximum effectiveness and impact and that the PLO should be invited to provide an exhibit to be displayed at Headquarters.

6.   Mr. TERZI (Observer, Palestine Liberation Organization) said that the section of the Division for Palestinian Rights with responsibility for NGOs had for six months been carrying out its duties at only 50 per cent of its established strength.  In view of the need for preparations before the meeting with the International Co-ordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ICCP), he wondered whether the Chairman of the Committee might contact the Secretary-General with a view to restoring the full established strength of the Division.

7.   The CHAIRMAN said that he would contact the Chief of the Division in order to see what could be done.

8.   If he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee wished to adopt the document containing the draft programme of work for 1988 and to request the Working Group to meet at a later date to consider the details of the various meetings to be organized by the Secretariat.

9.   It was so decided.

10.  The CHAIRMAN announced that the Committee's delegation to the Preparatory Planning Meeting for the International NGO Meeting would consist of Mr. Borg Olivier (Malta), Rapporteur, Mr. Velazco-San José (Cuba) and Mr. Terzi (Observer, Palestine Liberation Organization).

11.  If he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee wished to adopt Working Papers No. 1/Rev.1, No. 3 and No. 4.

12.  It was so decided.

13.  Mr. OUDOVENKO (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic) said that, in connection with Working Paper No. 4, the Ukrainian SSR was interested in proposing names of panelists to participate in the European Regional Seminar on the Question of Palestine.

OTHER MATTERS

14.  Mr. BORG OLIVIER (Malta), speaking as Chairman of the Working Group, said that the Working Group had considered the information collated by the Secretariat in Working Paper No. 2 concerning non-governmental organizations which had applied for admission to participate in future meetings and symposia sponsored by the Committee.  The Working Group was gratified that so many new organizations had been drawn to the network of NGOs active on the question of Palestine.  A number of questions had arisen, however, concerning the adequacy of the information supplied to the Division by NGOs, whether already admitted or seeking admission, and the desirability of reviewing the format of the questionnaire sent to them by the Division, including the formulation of the criteria established by the Committee. It had also been felt that ways and means should be found to strengthen co-operation in that regard with the regional and international co-ordinating committees of NGOs and to improve the exchange of information between the Committee and the NGO community.

15.  The Working Group had decided to propose that the matters be raised initially with the Executive Committee of the International Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ICCP) on the occasion of the Preparatory Meeting for the International NGO Meeting to be held at Geneva from 21 to 22 March 1988.

16.  The Working Group would continue to consider those questions in the light of consultations with ICCP and would make its recommendations to the Committee in due course.  Meanwhile it had taken note of the information contained in Working Paper No. 2 and decided to transmit it to the Committee for its consideration.

17.  The CHAIRMAN said that, if he heard no objection, he would take it that the Committee approved the participation of the NGOs mentioned in Working Paper No. 2 at meetings sponsored by it and authorized the Secretariat to proceed accordingly.

18.  It was so decided.

19.  The CHAIRMAN informed the Committee that the Secretariat had received information relating to activities which had been organized in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Cuba, the German Democratic Republic, Romania, and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.  The Offices of the United Nations at Geneva and Vienna, the United Nations Information Centre at Jakarta and several NGOs in Egypt, India, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom had also provided information on their activities in that connection.  A member of the Austrian Parliament had sent a copy of a declaration adopted by his country's parliamentarians.  All the relevant documents had been filed by the Secretariat and were available to those delegations which might wish to consult them.  The Secretariat had also received many communications from NGOs and individuals relating to Israeli policies and practices in the occupied territories.  A list of all such communications had been distributed for the information of members of the

Committee.

20.  Mr. EL-SAID (Department of Public Information) said that in accordance with General Assembly resolution 42/66 C, the African Regional Journalists' Encounter on the Question of Palestine had been held at Nairobi, Kenya, from 2 to 5 February 1988.  The objective of the Encounter had been to promote a better understanding of the question of Palestine among leaders of the media by bringing them together with experts on the subject for a brief, in depth, informal and candid discussion of various aspects of the Palestinian problem.  In order to provide the journalists with objective and balanced perspectives of the question, the following panelists had been invited to speak to them:  Dr. Tom Obaleh Kargbo, member of the Committee and of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations; Dr. Afif Safieh, Director of the Palestine Liberation Organization Office at The Hague, the Netherlands; Dr. Mofid Shehab, Head of the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, Cairo University; and Mr. Amos Kenan, prominent Israeli author and journalist and columnist of Yediot Aharonot.  Prior to the Encounter, an official invitation had been sent to the Israeli Government, through its Permanent Mission in New York, to assign a representative to the Encounter to present its views, but no response had been received.  He himself had moderated the Encounter and 18 high-level journalists had participated in it; the selection of journalists had been intended to cover the African continent and achieve a balance between representatives of the press, radio and television.

21.  The agenda of the Encounter had followed the same pattern as previous encounters but had been slightly amended during the Encounter; the opening introductory remarks of the Moderator had been accompanied by a slide-show on the Department of Public Information (DPI) and its programme on the question of Palestine, and there had also been a photo exhibit at the entrance of the conference room.  The Encounter had been attended by a large number of representatives from various embassies in Nairobi.

22.  The Encounter had been very successful and had achieved its purpose.  Debates had been lively, frank and objective.  Journalists had stated that the Encounter and the information they had received during the presentations by panelists and from United Nations publications had clarified issues and answered many questions they had about the Palestinian problem, and they all praised the United Nations for disseminating objective, balanced and impartial information on the subject on the widest possible scale.  There had also been a wide consensus among the journalists on the urgent need to reach a peaceful settlement for the question of Palestine, preferably through an international peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations.  Most of the participants had expressed the view that the participation of an Israeli representative would have been even more stimulating, although they appreciated the presence of Mr. Kenan.  The Moderator had explained that DPI had repeatedly invited Israeli officials to participate in United Nations public information activities on the question of Palestine but they had declined.

23.  Three national journalists' encounters on the question of Palestine had been held in Kinshasa, Zaire, on 29 January; Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, on 1 February; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 8 February.  The purpose of the encounters had been to provide an opportunity for the largest possible number of local journalists and foreign correspondents to meet with experts on the subject, constituting a small balanced panel, for a brief discussion of various aspects of the Palestinian question.  The panel of the encounters had consisted of Dr. Afif Safieh and Mr. Amos Kenan, and he himself had been the Moderator.

24.  The National Encounter in Kinshasa had been attended by more than 40 local journalists, foreign correspondents and press attachés of embassies; the meeting had been successful and had full same-day radio and television coverage.  About 20 journalists and diplomats had attended the meeting in Dar es Salaam.

25.  In Addis Ababa, the United Nations Information Service had undertaken extensive prior promotion for the Encounter, with announcements on television and radio, and had also mounted a photo exhibit outside the meeting room of the Encounter, which had been held in the Africa Hall at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and attended by more than 80 journalists, foreign correspondents, diplomatic representatives and NGOs.  The Deputy Executive Secretary of ECA had opened the Encounter and, after presentations by panelists, a lively debate with journalists had ensued.  The Encounter had been given live radio and television coverage and had been so far the most successful national encounter on the question of Palestine in Africa.

26.  DPI had produced an exhibit panel on the Geneva Declaration on Palestine of 1983, which had been installed in the DPI Palestinian rights exhibit in the General Assembly building.

27.  The Department's annual news mission to the Middle East would take place from 14 March to 2 April 1988.  Eleven high-level journalists would visit Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Tunisia; no response had been received to an official request for permission to visit Israel.  Preparations were also under way for various European journalists' encounters, including one to be held at Vienna from 17 to 20 May 1988.

28.  The CHAIRMAN said that the Committee took note of the report.

29.  Mr. TERZI (Observer, Palestine Liberation Organization) said that, despite a lengthy debate in January, the Security Council had recently appeared to ignore the extremely serious events in the occupied Arab territories.  Since the fate of peoples and the fate of peace in the Middle East were both of importance to the Council, it was essential that it should be convened to consider the situation, whether or not Israel heeded its resolutions.

30.  The CHAIRMAN explained that reports on the situation were under preparation by the two special committees established by the League of Arab States and the Non-Aligned Movement.  However, the Committee had regularly drawn the attention of the President of the Security Council and of the Secretary-General to the seriousness of the situation.  If the Committee so wished, another letter could be sent.

31.  Mr. EL-FAWWAZ (Observer for Jordan) asked whether it was within the Committee's mandate to call for a meeting of the Security Council.

32.  Mr. TERZI (Observer, Palestine Liberation Organization) said that it would not be the first time that the Committee had requested such a meeting.  The Committee had been mandated by the General Assembly to keep under review the situation affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and to take whatever action it deemed necessary.  The brutalities perpetrated by the Israelis against the Palestinian people were threatening their right to life and their right to live in peace.  The special committees set up by the League of Arab States and the Non-Aligned Movement had been concerned not simply with the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories but with the question of securing a comprehensive peace.  In the mean time, the Committee should call for a meeting of the Security Council to consider the situation resulting from the brutalities.

33.  The CHAIRMAN said that he did not feel that it was necessary to open a debate on the Committee's competence to make requests to the Security Council.  As members or observers of the Security Council, it would be possible for members of the Committee to co-ordinate action at an appropriate time.  Several letters had been sent to the President of the Security Council and to the Secretary-General drawing attention to the current situation in the occupied territories, and the need for the Security Council to meet and consider, for example, the proposal to hold an international peace conference on the Middle East.  The Committee could take note of the need to draw the attention of the President of the Security Council to the seriousness of the situation and, if necessary, to determine what measures should be taken.

34.  It was so decided.

35.  Mr. TERZI (Observer, Palestine Liberation Organization) recalled that in the previous week the General Assembly had unanimously adopted draft resolutions A/42/L.46 and L.47 concerning a United States law which was in violation of the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the host country.  What was at issue was the applicability of the law, which affected not only the status of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the independence of the United Nations Headquarters but also any action in the United States whereby United States institutions, groups and individuals and NGOs responded positively to deliberations of the United Nations concerning the question of Palestine.  The issue must be decided definitely; it must be determined that the law was in no way applicable to the United Nations and its activities or to observer missions accredited to the United Nations.  Otherwise, the Committee's activities in the United States would be paralysed.  The International Court of Justice had already been seized of the issue.  Moreover, members of the United States Congress had started a move to exempt the United Nations and its activities, and specifically the activities of the Committee, as well as any action on behalf of the Palestinian people undertaken under the auspices of the United Nations from the law in question and to ensure that there were no adverse consequences for United Nations citizens or groups supporting the United Nations.

36.  The CHAIRMAN said that the matter would become clearer when it had been considered by the International Court of Justice and the General Assembly.  If necessary, further steps could be taken.

                           The meeting rose at 4.10 p.m.