Mideast situation/Attacks – Letter from Syrian Arab Republic

Identical letters dated 29 June 2006 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

  I have the honour to refer to the letter dated 26 June 2006 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to you (S/2006/436) and to draw to your attention, first of all, to the flight of Israeli military aircraft over the Syrian coast yesterday at dawn, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and unjustified provocation against the Syrian Arab Republic. I also draw your attention to the vast offensive launched by Israel against the Occupied Palestinian Territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

  These acts of aggression constitute unacceptable and unjustified provocation and are a direct attack. Their purposes and the reasons behind them are glaringly obvious; they reflect the failures of Israel, which is in the midst of a domestic crisis and is attempting to export it in order to circumvent the requirements of a just and comprehensive peace based on United Nations resolutions.

  The latest events have proved that Israel was neither straightforward nor sincere when it withdrew from the Gaza Strip, and that it was merely awaiting a pretext to reinvade Gaza and pursue its policy of aggression against the Palestinian people. Similarly, the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, which provides essential services to the inhabitants of Gaza, is a violation of international humanitarian law, in particular, the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel’s attempts to destabilize the Syrian Arab Republic are part of its efforts to sow tension everywhere in the region. One has to admire Israel’s treachery: even as it violates international law, international humanitarian law and United Nations resolutions on a daily basis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, it does not hesitate to level unfounded accusations against other parties, as is evident from its above-mentioned letter.

  The Syrian Arab Republic urges the international community to exert pressure on Israel to force it to halt its destructive attacks against the unarmed Palestinian people, and all acts of provocation that have the effect of escalating tension in the region. The Syrian Arab Republic hopes that the Security Council will consider this dangerous situation and fulfil its obligation to maintain international peace and security, and that it will put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and compel Israel to cease its occupation of occupied Arab territory, in accordance with United Nations resolutions and international law.

  I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter circulated as a document of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, under agenda items 14 and 15, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Milad Atieh

Minister Counsellor

Chargé d’affaires a.i.

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