Credentials of representatives – UNCTAD VII conference – Letter from delegations

We, the undersigned in our capacity as representatives of our Governments and on their behalf, have the honour to bring to your attention the reservations of our Governments concerning the credentials of the Israeli delegation to UNCTAD VII for the following reasons:

1. Israel is refusing to allow UNCTAD staff and experts to enter the occupied Palestinian territories, so as to conceal the serious deterioration in the economic situation resulting from Israel's military occupation, siege and domination of the Palestinian national economy, including foreign-trade, thereby turning the occupied Palestinian territories into the second largest market for Israeli exports in the world, after the United States of America.

2. Israel is persisting in its systematic and constant violations of the provisions of the United Nations Charter and the principles of international law. It makes no attempt to conceal its contempt for, and unveiled defiance of, United Nations resolutions concerning the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East.

3. Israel is still defiantly refusing to implement the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly concerning the status of Jerusalem, which it has annexed and declared as its capital, contrary to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, international conventions and the norms of international law, and in flagrant disregard of the relevant United Nations resolutions. As. evidence of its continued contempt for United Nations resolutions, Israel has once again submitted credentials for its representatives issued in the City of Jerusalem, thereby persisting with impunity in its violations of relevant General Assembly resolutions, in particular resolution 35/169 E of 15 December 1980 determining that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and, in particular, the "Basic Law" on Jerusalem and the proclamation of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith, and calling upon all States, specialized agencies and other international organizations not to conduct any business which is not in conformity with the provisions of the resolution.

4. Israel has refused to implement the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly calling upon it to annul forthwith the decision that it adopted in December 1981 to impose its laws, jurisdictions and administrative system on the Syrian Golan Heights.

5. Israel has continued systematically to refuse to implement United Nations resolutions concerning the inalienable legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, to return to their homes and homeland and to establish their own independent State in Palestine, as recognized and reaffirmed by successive United Nations resolutions. Israel has also continued its military occupation of the Palestinian territories, including the Holy City of Jerusalem, and has systematically, publicly and formally rejected the relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human Rights.

6. Israel is continuing to reject the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly declaring illegal its policy of establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories, which constitutes an obstacle to peace. The objectives of the policies that Israel is pursuing are to consolidate its control over the Palestinian and other occupied Arab territories, to prolong its military occupation thereof, to alter their geographic, demographic, cultural and social character, with a view to the Judaization of Palestine and the other occupied Arab territories, and the imposition of a fait accompli therein, as attested by Israel's repressive and terrorist policies and practices, its imposition of emergency laws, its application of an "iron fist" policy against Arab citizens, and its systematic deportation of the inhabitants of the occupied territories in order to empty those occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories of their legitimate inhabitants through forcible displacement. These Israeli policies contravene the principles of the United Nations and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.

7. Israelis continuing to occupy by military force part of South Lebanon, thereby flouting the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly. It has persisted in launching attacks by air, land and sea against towns and villages in Lebanon, in total disregard of the principles and provisions of international law.

8.  Israel systematically resorts to intimidation and the use of force and aggression to consolidate its occupation of the Arab territories under its control, to prevent the Palestinian people from enjoying its rights and to threaten the security and peace of the Arab countries.

9. The General Assembly of the United Nations has already declared in its resolution 9/1 adopted during its Emergency Special Session on 5 February 1982 that Israel's record and actions confirm that it is not a peace-loving Member State and that it has carried out its obligations under the Charter nor its commitment under General Assembly resolution 273 (III) of 11 May 1949, under which the General Assembly admitted Israel as a Member of the United Nations.

10, Israel is the only Member of the United Nations against which, since its usurpation of Palestine, the Security Council has adopted 32 resolutions of condemnation for its flagrant violations of the principles of international law, its refusal to comply with United Nations resolutions and its aggressive, expansionist and repressive practices against the Palestinian people and the other Arab countries.

The undersigned therefore declare their reservation and objection, on behalf of their Governments, to the credentials of the Israeli delegation to the seventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, reserve the right. to raise this issue at the appropriate time and request you to kindly circulate the present letter as an official document of the seventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.