Camp David accords/Declarations by Palestinian organizations – Note verbale from Iraq, letter from PLO

THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
QUESTION OF PALESTINE

Note verbale dated 15 November 1978 from the Permanent Representative

of Iraq to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

The Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations presents his compliments to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and has the honour to request that the attached letter dated 13 November 1978 from the Palestine Liberation Organization and enclosures be circulated as an official document of the General Assembly under agenda items 30 and 31.

ANNEX

Letter dated 13 November 1978 from the permanent Observer of
the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

Upon instructions of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, I have the honour to enclose the following documents (appendices I to VII):

I.    Declaration concerning the Israeli "self-rule" plan, signed in mid-August;

II. Declaration by the administrative board of the Arab Graduates' Union, Jerusalem, 21 September 1978;

III. Declaration from the professional unions, Jerusalem, 24 September 1978;

IV. Declaration from the occupied territories (circulated clandestinely during the last week of September 1978);

V. Declaration by the Arab Graduates' Union, Jerusalem, 28 September;

VI. Declaration by the conference of the popular organizations in the occupied land, held at Beit Hanina (Jerusalem) on 1 October 1978;

VII. Declaration submitted on 3 October 1978 to the Ramallah Municipality by the students of the UNRWA Men's Teachers' Training Centre in support of the resolution adopted at the meeting on 1 October at Jerusalem.

Zehdi Labib TERZI
Permanent Observer

APPENDIX I

Declaration concerning the Israeli "self-rule" plan, signed in mid-August

Despite the misery from which the West Bank people are suffering and despite the unanimity of all classes and groups of the people in refusing the so-called self-rule plan, we see that some flattering and opportunist people occasionally try to implement this very filthy project among the politically naive and the opportunists among our fellow citizens. Therefore we, the undersigned, declare our refusal (and opposition) to those involved in the so-called League of Hebron Villages and the Social Centre in Nablus. We call on our people to denounce these opportunists and adhere to our common interest, aim and fate, so as to realize the Palestinian people's national aspirations, which are expressed in our right to self-determination, the complete withdrawal from all the occupied territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State with self-government under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Fahd Qawasmeh, mayor of Hebron

Bassam Shak'a, mayor of Nablus

Muhammad Hasan Milhem, mayor of Halhul

Hanna Atrash, mayor of Belt Sahour

Elias Freij, mayor of Bethlehem

Fuad Rizq, deputy mayor of Beit Jala

Jamil Tarifi, acting mayor of el-Bireh

Rev. 'Awdeh Rantisi, acting mayor of Ramallah

George Hazboun, deputy mayor of Bethlehem

'Atallah Rishmawi, member of Belt Sahour council

Yusif Farhan, member of Ramallah council

Zaki Malki, member of Ramallah council

Rasmi Matriye, member of Ramallah council

Dr. Muhammad Awartani, member of el-Bireh council

Dr. Azmi Shu'aibi, member of el-Bireh council

Adel Ghanem, member of Nablus council and general secretary, West Bank trade unions

Khaldun 'Abd al-Haq, member of Nablus council Dr. Ahmad Hamze

Ibrahim Daggaq, engineers' union

Muhammad Batrawi

Zeidan Raja Zeidan

Bashir Barghuthi, editor of "at-Tali'ah"

'Abbas 'Abd al-Haq, engineers' union, Nablus Ghassan Harb, teacher at Birzeit University

Omar Darwish

Dr. Darwish Nazzal

Farhan Anis

In'ash al-Usra Society, el-Bireh

APPENDIX II

Declaration by the administrative board of the Arab Graduates' Union, Jerusalem, 21 September 1978

The Arab Graduates' Union in Jerusalem, after being apprised of what was announced in the two agreements of the Camp David conference, felt a duty to explain the following truths:

1. President Sadat reached a surrenderist agreement and accepted all of Israel's conditions, which preceded (the conference) and which the Arab nation (ummah) had refused. And he concluded a separate peace and the establishment of diplomatic relations even before the withdrawal from Sinai,

2. The agreement does not require Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip or to stop settlement, The Prime Minister of Israel confirmed this in his press conference after signing the agreements.

3. The Prime Minister of Israel asserted that Jerusalem will remain united and guarded by Israel eternally, although it is known that there will not be peace without the return of Jerusalem to Arab sovereignty.

4. The agreements deny (ignore) the rights of the Palestinian Arab people, their legitimate representative, their right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent State without anyone's guardianship.

5. All the self-rule clauses in the agreement are a de facto sanctification of the occupation with a new guise.

Therefore the Arab Graduates' Union in Jerusalem rejects the two Camp David agreements categorically and announces that a just peace will only be established on the basis of complete Israeli withdrawal and granting the Palestinian Arab people their complete legitimate rights under the leadership of their legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Arab Graduates' Union urges the leaders and the peoples of the Arab States to work to destroy those agreements.

APPENDIX III

Declaration from the professional unions, Jerusalem, 24 September 1978

The professional unions in the West Bank have studied the results of the Camp David meeting and, because of the great effect those results have on the Arab nation in general and the Palestinian people in particular, these unions cannot let this event pass unnoticed. On the contrary, the national (qawmi) and patriotic (watani) duty impels them to determine their position with all courage, clarity and openness.

The professional unions strongly refuse all the results, in content and form, on the following basis:

1. The signing of the two framework agreements of Camp David means the eventual isolation of sister Egypt from the Arab-Israeli struggle and from the confrontation with Israel and the non-alignment of the largest Arab country in this struggle. This is a clear threat to the security of the Arab nations and allows Israel to deal with the Arab nations separately in order to fulfil its "greater Israel" plans. Moreover, it clearly moves away from the union of the Arab nation and is thus a stab against the viewpoint and hopes of this nation.

2. The Camp David treaty is really a bilateral treaty between Israel and Egypt, and is a dangerous ignoring of the main forces on the battlefield in the Middle East.

3. The signing of the peace treaty with Israel before an agreement is reached on the Palestinian issue is an irresponsible act. It gives the Israeli presence legitimacy for the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, it does not help towards solving the Palestinian issue, it is not in the interests of peace and it increases the complications and confusion in the situation.

4. The treaty is rejected because the Palestinian issue was not discussed. That issue is the core of the Middle East conflict, (but) neither the Palestinian Arabs nor their cause were mentioned. Their stolen rights, their right to self-determination and the legitimate right of their representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization, were not mentioned. The treaty even created a leadership to replace (the PLO) under the occupation by providing for "autonomy", which the people had previously refused in form and content time and again.

The professional unions use this occasion to renew their firm position on the issue of peace in the area, stating:

1. The Palestinian Arab issue is the core of the Arab-Israeli struggle;

2. Any solution that ignores the rights of this people is unacceptable and will never be acceptable;

3. Any solution in the absence of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinians, bears the seeds of failure and cannot have any results;

4. A just and lasting peace can only be attained by the frank recognition of the Palestinian Arab people's right to self-determination with full freedom on their land, and their right to establish their independent State and to restore their stolen rights.

Because of our concern for attaining a real, firm and just peace, we call on all our Arab peoples to maintain their national unity and to denounce and try to defeat the attempts to take away the Arab right to Palestine, to create an alternative leadership to its legitimate Palestine Liberation Organization, to remove any possibility of gaining its right and to break its unity.

Jirius Khuri, lawyer, representative of the lawyers' union

Dr. Samir Icatbe, representative of the doctors' union

Hasan al-Qaiq, engineer, representative of the engineers' union

Ismaa'il at-Taziz, pharmacist, representative of the pharmacists' union

Dr. Nasib Abd al-Latif, representative of the dentists' union

Daud Istanbuli, engineer, representative of the agricultural engineers' union

APPENDIX IV

Declaration from the occupied territories a/

In affirmation of the constant position of our people in the occupied territories, and after examining the agreements announced by the Camp David conference, we want to assert that these results affirm the capitulationist road of Sadat, which aims (against) the accomplishments which our Palestinian Arab people won through struggle and bitter sacrifices and which were confirmed at the Arab level by the Algiers and Rabat conferences and, at the international level, by the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly. (Sadat°s route) aims at splitting the Arab liberation movement in general and aborting the Palestinian national liberation movement in particular, and at their isolation from their strategic allies in the world liberation movement in order to return to the policy of imperialist alliances which the masses of our Arab people have refused in the past. This policy will lead to intensified tension in the region and the return, internationally, to the cold war policy, for whose consequences the knights of Camp David will be responsible.

The self-rule plan, which is a basic article in the above-mentioned agreements concerning the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is nothing but the granting of a legal character and consecration of the action of occupying our land and swallowing it. We regard that as a naked plot to bypass the aspirations of our people and their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State under the leadership of their legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Our people warned more than once that this capitulationist posture would only lead to a separate peace and the splintering of united Arab strength, paving the way to liquidating the Palestinian issue for the benefit of the enemies of our people.

Our Palestinian people in the occupied territories, being aware of these facts and fulfilling their historical responsibilities on all the Palestinian, Arab and international levels, want to assert the following:

1. Our Palestinian Arab people, inside and outside the occupied land, is one unit historically, through their struggling and by destiny;

2. Our people assert that the sole legitimate representative is the Palestine Liberation Organization, and they refuse any trusteeship or alternative of whatever kind or form;

3. The self-rule plan is refused in form and content, as we consider it a legitimizing of occupation and the continuation of the oppression of the people and the preventing of the people from exercising self-determination;

4. If we look towards a just, lasting and continuous peace in the region, we see it only through our people's exercise of their right to self-determination and national independence, after the complete withdrawal from the occupied territory and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State;

5. The return of Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem, as an inseparable part of the West Bank, is an historical and spiritual cause which is impossible to give up.

Municipalities

Village councils

Societies

Individual

Total: At least 121 signatures, half of which are from municipal and village councils.

APPENDIX V

Declaration by the Arab Graduates' Union, Jerusalem, 28 September 1978

In the aftermath of the recent developments arising from the Camp David accord, a large group of residents of Jerusalem and the district assembled. This brought together representatives of all the unions, Islamic and Christian religious groups, women's societies, clubs and leading men of the city and district, at the Centre of the Arab Graduates' Union in Jerusalem. They decided during the meeting to issue the following declaration:

1. The assembled people announce their strong opposition to the Camp David agreement all its documents, appendices and the explanations by its signatories.

2. The Camp David agreement is inconsistent with the struggle's nationalism (qawmi) and is really equivalent to a

3. The Camp David agreement is clearly inconsistent with the resolutions of the Arab summit conferences in general and the sixth and seventh conferences, held in Algiers and Rabat, in particular. Those resolutions refused separatist settlements and demanded work in all fields. Likewise, the (Camp David) agreement is inconsistent with the Arab League covenant and the collective Arab defence alliance.

4. The Camp David agreement is also clearly inconsistent with all the continuous resolutions of the United Nations, especially on the Palestinian issue, and is tantamount to a barefaced defiance of the international will and a crude attack on the natural right of the Palestinian people.

5. The agreement wrecked Arab solidarity and laid the foundations for the Zionist aim of having (agreements) with each Arab State according to its concerns. … And this has the most serious consequences for the Palestinian cause.

6. The Camp David agreement denies the rights of the Palestinian Arab people, ignores the Palestine Liberation Organization's role as their sole legitimate representative and does not mention their right to return, to self-determination and to the establishment of a free independent State on their land.

7. The Camp David agreement does not require Israel to withdraw from Arab Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the rest of the Arab lands. The discarded "self-rule" obviously lays the foundation for (continued) occupation, secures its roots and (provides for) the annexation of the land and perpetual Israeli trusteeship over the people. It is copied from the Begin plan, which all sectors of our people in the occupied land have rejected.

8. The assembled people view the Palestinian people's struggle as an inseparable part of the struggle of the Arab peoples towards unity, freedom and progress, since the area's development is one despite efforts to portray it to the contrary. (Moreover) the Palestinian people, inside and outside the occupied land, are one undivided unity.

9. The assembled people assert that the national (qawmi) and historical rights of our people cannot be touched at all, because (these rights) are not the property of one generation, Government or leader. The Palestine cause is an Arab [cause and an Arab responsibility, which no Arab Government has the right to abandon or neglect.

10. The assembled people assert that there can only be peace with the complete and genuine withdrawal of the Israeli forces from all the occupied Arab lands and the granting to the Palestinian people their right to return, to self-determination and to the creation of a free independent State on their land. Also, no peace will be established in this region except with the exercise of Palestinian Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem and over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arab people.

11. The assembled people view the Camp David accord and its burdensome consequences as requiring the Arab nation (umma) – with its Governments, people and organizations w. to adopt a serious stance which will respond to the will of the Arab masses and its national (qawmi) trust.

12. We appeal to all the residents of the occupied land to adopt a single line in the face of the attempts occurring now to make them agree to "self-rule" … and to prevent any co-operation with this route.

Sheikh Hilmi Muhtaseb, President of the Islamic Council

Sheikh Sa'd ad-Din alt-Alami, gadi and mufti of Holy Jerusalem

Sheikh Akrama Sabri, director of sermons and guidance

Dr. Lufti Lahham, deputy director of the Roman Catholic patriarchate

Anwar Nusseibeh, lawyer (former Jordanian Ambassador and Minister)

Sa'id al-Ala ad-Din, lawyer (former Jordanian Member of Parliament)

Judge Taisir Kan'an

Judge Has an Abu 11aizer

Miss Zleikhah Shehabi, President of the Arab Women's Union

Dr. Amin al.-Khatib, President of the Union of Charitable Societies

Khuri Jirius, lawyer, representative of the lawyers' union

Dr. Samir Katbe, representative of the doctors' union

Ibrahim Daqqaq, engineer, representative of the engineers' union

Dr. Nasib Abd al-Latif, representative of the dentists' union

Isma'il at-Taziz, pharmacist, representative of the pharmacists' union

Fa'iq Barahat, member of the secretariat of Jerusalem (and President of the Chamber of Commerce)

Muhammad Abu Amr, member of the Chamber of Commerce

'Abd ar-Ra'uf Abu Asab, for the Society of the Owners of Restaurants and Coffee Houses

Faiz Abd an–Nur, member of the Chamber of Commerce

Nabil al-Aza, representative of the union and employees of the Electricity Company

Salah Zahika, representative of the Employees' Club

Hasan al-Qaiq, engineer, Engineers' Union

Dr. Amin al-Khatib, President of the Arab Graduates Club

Dr. Abdullah Sabri, member of the administrative board, Arab Graduates' Club

Dr. Faktur Batarseh, member of the administrative board, Arab Graduates' Club

Dr. 'Azmi Shu'aibi, member of the administrative board, Arab Graduates' Club

Dr. 'Abd al-Muhsin Hamam, member of the administrative board, Arab Graduates' Club

Hashim Kalil Isa, lawyer, member of the administrative board, Arab Graduates' Club

APPENDIX VI

Declaration by the conference of the popular organizations in the occupied land, held at Belt Hanina (Jerusalem) on 1 October 1978

On this day, 1 October 1978, in the Professional Union's Centre in Jerusalem, the President of the Islamic court, some Christian clergy, mayors and City Council members, representatives of professional unions, workers' unions, social welfare societies, clubs and national societies and leading personalities in Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied territories, met and studied the results of the Camp David conference, including its treaties, letters, declarations and explanations, Nand they answered the people who had signed them. All those present have accepted the following:

1. Refusal and denial of these treaties in all aspects.

2. The Camp David agreement contradicts the nationalism (qawmi) of the struggle, because it is really a bilateral treaty between Egypt and Israel. It excludes Egypt from the united Arab front and from. the Arab-Israeli conflict, and it strikes at the Arab and African liberation movements.

3. The above-mentioned treaties are a clear denial of the decisions of the Arab summit conference, which reject bilateral treaties and request the confrontation countries to maintain a unified effort on all levels.

4. The above-mentioned treaties contradict the United Nations General Assembly resolutions on the Palestinian issue and are an open challenge to the international will and an attack on the Palestinian Arabs' natural rights.

5. The above-mentioned treaties ignore the rights and the legitimate cause of the Palestinian Arab people, which is the core of the Middle East conflict. They deny their stolen rights and their self-determination on their land, and they also deny the Palestine Liberation Organization (as) the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arab people. They try to create a replacement under the occupation by establishing an "autonomy", which was rejected by all sectors of the people time after time.

6. The struggle of the Palestinian people was and still is a part of the struggle of the Arabs for unity, liberty and progress, and is part of the international liberation movement. And the Palestinian people inside and outside the occupied territory are one inseparable people.

7. No peace is possible in the area without the complete and genuine withdrawal of the Israeli forces from all the occupied territory and granting the Palestinian people the right of return, self-determination and the creation of their own independent State on the land of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.

8. The autonomy plan is rejected in content and form. We consider it to be a legitimization of the occupation, the continuation of oppression of this people and the stealing of its legitimate rights, and as an open plot to curb the hopes of our people to have our right to our land and our self-determination.

We, from this place, from beloved Jerusalem, the throbbing heart of Palestine, we appeal to our Arab people everywhere to retain their national unity, confirm their allegiance to their sole legitimate representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and stand united in the face of all efforts to implement the proposed autonomy plan and other surrenderist solutions.

On this occasion we greet our Palestinian people inside and outside (Palestine), the memory of our martyrs, who sacrificed their lives for their country, and the resisters in the Israeli prisons. We greet the steadfastness confrontation front and we declare our infinite support for all its resolutions in its sessions in Tripoli, Rabat and Damascus. These are an extension of the Arab resistance stance established by the Arab people by their acts of resistance. And we greet all the countries – allies and friends for their clear position in support of our national rights.

Sheikh Hilmi Muhtaseb (President, Islamic Council)

Bassani Shak'a (mayor, Nablus)

Amin al-Nasr (mayor, Oalqilya)

Hilmi Hanun (mayor, Tulkarm)

Dr. Mustafa 'Abd an-Nabi (councillor, Hebron)

George Hazboun (deputy mayor, Bethlehem)

Dr. 'Azmi Shu'aibi (councillor, el-Bireh)

Mus a Mahmud Musa

`Abdallah 'Abd al-Hamid Salman

Hisham 'Adel 'Abdo (councillor, Jericho)

Muhammad. Safwan

Yasir Aslan (councillor, Nablus)

Ata Badr

Dr. Muhammad al-Awartani (councillor, el-Bireh)

Jirius Ithuri, lawyer (lawyer's union)

Hasan al-Dahleh (councillor, Beituniya)

Ibrahim 'Awdallah (councillor, Bir Zeit)

Isma'il al-Taziz (pharmacists' union)

Muhammad Shaker 'Awisat (councillor, Qalqilya)

'Issam Rabi' (councillor, Bir Zeit)

Khalil Zuhair al-Asili (councillor, Hebron)

Ibrahim Hasan (councillor, Anabta)

Husain Musa Mustafa

Muhammad ''Abbas 'Abd al-Haq (engineers' union, Nablus)

Yusif Khalifen (Nablus)

Farid at-Tawasha (councillor, Ramallah)

Ya'qub Farrah

'Abd al Nun' im Mansour (councillor, el-Bireh)

Rasmi Matriyeh  (councillor, Ramallah)

Fuad Rizq (deputy mayor, Beit Jala)

Ismail an-Natshe

Dr. Wajde an-Natshe

Dr. Lutfi Lahham (deputy director, Catholic patriarchate)

Karim Khalaf (mayor, Ramallah)

Muhammad Musa Amro (mayor, Dura)

Jamil 'Uthman Nasr (acting mayor, Jericho)

Burh an Yaisa (councillor, Nablus)

'Abd Ismail

'Abdallah Muhammad 'Abd al-Jabr

Mub arak 'Abd al-Hadi

Nimr Hamad (Nablus)

Muhammad 'Abd al-Karim Abu Kiyan (councillor, Halhul)

Rev. 'Awdoh Kantjal (deputy mayor, Ramallah)

Dr. Samir Katbe (doctors' union)

Ahmad Shawgi Musa Mahmud (mayor, Jonin)

Dr. Niqola Farid 'Awad (councillor, Ramallah)

Said 'Ala ad-Din (lawyer, former member of Parliament of Jordan)

Amin Shehadeh (councillor, Bir Zeit)

Ahmad 'Uthman (mayor, Beituniya)

Salah az-Zahika (employees' club)

'Abd al-'Aziz 'Ali

Muhammad Khalil Qazzaz (councillor, Dura)

'Abdallah Muhammad Nasser (councillor, Qalqilya)

Kamil 'Abd Kamil

'Abd ar-.Rauf Abu 'Asab (Society of owners of restaurants and cafés)

Muhammad Ahmad Mash'al (councillor, Halhul)

Salim Salman

Jasir Muslih (councillor, Ramallah)

Khaldun 'Abd al-Haq (councillor, Nablus)

Jamil at-Tarifi (deputy mayor, el-Bireh)

Jamal Shakukani (councillor, el-Bireh)

Ibrahim Abu Gharbiya

Zuhair as-Sus (councillor, Qalqilya)

Rajih as-Salfiti (councillor, Shlfit)

Dr. Amin Majaj

Sulaiman Ibrahim (mayor, el-Bireh)

Muhammad Has an Milhem (mayor, Halhul)

Maruh Anis Qasim (mayor, Ya'bud)

Mahmud 'Abd al-Fatah Arda (mayor, Arrabe)

Dr. Amin al-Khiatib (Arab Graduates' Union)

Hanna Musa Qasis (councillor, Bir Zeit)

Fahd Isma'il Muhammad

Mustafa Yusif Hamad (councillor, Bir Zeit)

Muhammad Yusif Baghdadi

Dr. Hatem Abu Ghazaleh (councillor, Nablus)

Khalil 'Abd ar-Rahman

Husain Farah at-Tawill (treasurer, labour union, Ramallah/Bireh)

Yusif Marar (ex-councillor, Jericho)

Ibrahim Daqqaq (engineers' union)

Hijazi Rashid

Dr. ITasib 'Abd al-Latif (dentists' union)

Mahmud Musa Omar

'Ab dal lah' Awdeh ar-Rajub (councillor, Dura)

Ishaq an-Natshe (councillor, Hebron)

'Ali Khair ad-Din (councillor, Beituniya)

Muhammad Abu Gharbiye

'Adnan Dagher

Malik 'Afif al-Hajj Ibrahim (councillor, Tulkarm)

Dr. 'Abd al-Munsin Hamam (Arab Graduates' Union board)

Zaki al-Malii (councillor, Ramallah)

Ibrahim 'Ayyish (councillor, el-Bireh)

Has an Jallad (councillor, Tulkarm)

Yusif Farhan (councillor, Ramallah)

'Arafat al -Barghuthi

Bishara Daud (mayor, Beit Jala)

Hanna al-At rash (mayor, Beit Sahour)

APPENDIX VII

Declaration submitted on 3 October 1978 to the Ramallah municipality by
the students of the UNRWA Men's Teachers' Training Centre in support of the resolution adopted at the meeting on 1 October at Jerusalem

As part of the Palestinian student movement in the occupied land and part of Palestinian people in general, we want you to know that we reject the following:

1. We reject what is said in the Camp David resolutions in form and in ail;

2. We reject all of the framework, in part or collectively, which regards elf as a substitute for the Palestine Liberation Organization.

We announce that before international public opinion.

Add we support the following:

1. The Palestine Liberation Organization is the legitimate and sole representative of the Palestinian Arab people;

2. (We support) the resolutions of the patriotic societies' meeting in Palestinian Arab Jerusalem.

Please receive this (declaration) with our thanks and esteem.

a/ Circulated clandestinely during the last week of September 1978.