Third United Nations International NGO Meeting on the Question of Palestine (Vienna, 2-4 July 1986) – Report – DPR publication

THIRD INTERNATIONAL NGO MEETING

ON THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

Vienna International Centre

Austria, 2-4 July 1986

CONTENTS

Annexes

INTRODUCTION

1. The Third International NGO Meeting on the Question of Palestine was held at Vienna from 2 to 4 July 1986 at the Vienna International Centre. The meeting took place in pursuance of General Assembly resolution 40/96 B of 12 December 1985. The topics of the meeting were:

a) The need for and the urgency of convening the International Peace Conference on the Middle East in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C:

(i) The situation of the Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967;

(ii) The costs and dangers of not implementing General Assembly resolution 38/58 C;

(iii) Ways and means of promoting the early implementation of General Assembly resolution 38/58 C;

(iv) United Nations endeavours and key United Nations resolutions bearing upon the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East;

(b) Mobilization of public opinion and the question of Palestine:

The panellists were:

Mr. Ibrahim Matar (American Near East Refugee Aid);

Mr. Shafiq Al-Hout (Palestine National Council);

Mr. Uri Avnery (Haolam-Hazeh);

Mr. Tawfiq Toubi (Member of Knesset, Al-Ittihad);

Mr. Pete N. McCloskey Jr. (former United States Congressman);

H.E. Mr. Vladimir Vinogradov (Minister for Foreign Affairs, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic);

Mr. Zehdi L. Terzi (Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO) to the United Nations);

Mr. E. Ousmane Sarr (Senegalese Association of Democratic Jurists);

Mr. Eugene Gus Newport (Mayor of Berkeley, California, United States of America);

Mr. David Watkins (Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding).

2. The International Meeting was attended by 82 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 15 of them as observers.

3. In his opening statement, Mr. George Agius, Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and Head of the Committee delegation, made reference to the recommendations of the 1985 International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC), namely the urgency regarding the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East.

4. A message from Mr. Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO, was delivered by Mr. Daoud Barakat, Permanent Observer of the PLO in Vienna (see annex III).

5. Four workshops were set up to discuss the following topics: (a) development, solidarity and relief; (b) peace movement; (c) civil and human rights; and (d) information, media and political decision-makers (for the reports of the workshops, see annex II).

6. The panelists presented their papers and discussed the different topics. A new ICC, composed of 18 members, was elected for 1986-1987 (see annex VI). Closing statements were made by Mr. George Agius, Rapporteur of the Committee and by the President of the Palestine Committee for NGOs, the Rev. Ibrahim Ayad. (Texts of the five communications that the Meeting decided to send are contained in annex IV.

PANEL DISCUSSION

A. The need for and the-urgency of convening the International-Peace-Conference- on

– the-Middle-East in – accordance – with General Assembly – resolution – 38/58 C

1. The- situation – of- the- Palestinians in – the territories-occupied-by-Israel-since-1967

7. Mr. Ibrahim Matar explained the repressive measures to which the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had been subjected and classified them as follows:

(a) Detention without trial and imprisonment. Approximately one-sixth of the total population of the West Bank and Gaza has been in Israeli prisons;

(b) Home destruction. Over 1,350 homes have been dynamited or bulldozed)

(c) Deportation and expulsions. Over 1,200 Palestinian leaders have been deported or permanently exiled;

(d) Other collective punishments, namely prolonged curfews over towns, villages and camps) ban on freedom of movement, town and house arrests, etc. Furthermore, over the last 19 years of occupation, Israeli authorities had issued more than 1,200 military orders intended to amend Jordanian laws and control every aspect of daily life.

8. In reference to violation of Palestinian property rights, Mr. Matar was of the opinion that the dispossession of the Palestinians and the colonization of their land had begun at the turn of the century, during the British Mandate. Later, between 1948 and 1967, he continued, 261 Jewish colonies had been built in the areas occupied in 1948. The busiest period was the years 1948 to 1955.

9. The Zionist policies regarding Jewish colonization of the 1920s and 1930s were implemented in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem following the 1967 occupation. The Labour Government (1967-1977) had established civilian settlements in the Jordan Valley laying them out in two lines, from north to south, in the West Bank and as a fortress around the Palestinians in the already annexed part of East Jerusalem. For the period 1977-1986, under the Likud Government, the colonization policies went even further in their objectives of cutting the West Bank into bits and pieces and building Jewish settlements in the areas between and around Palestinian population centers.

10. Summarizing the consequences of those policies, Mr. Matar stated the following effects:

(a) 117 settlements established in the West Bank with a population of over 50,000 Jews;

(b) A residential fortress of Jewish settlements in the annexed part of East Jerusalem with 90,000 Jews;

(c) 14 settlements in the Gaza Strip with some 2,500 Jews;

(d) Thousands of Palestinian landowners and farmers dispossessed and displaced.

11. Zionist occupiers had used three devices to achieve their goals:

(a) In East Jerusalem, laws confiscating private Palestinian property for "public purpose";

(b) In the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, seizure of land for security reasons and then transfer for use to Jewish settlements;

(c) Based on a law dating from 1850, during the Ottoman rule, seizure of certain areas subsequently declared "State lands".

12. Mr. Matar noted that the Jewish colonization of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip had adverse effects not only on the land but also on the underground water resources. So far, Jewish settlements had usurped 40 per cent of all the water in the West Bank and had established restrictions for the Palestinians on the use of their own water resources.

13. However, several measures had been taken up by the Palestinians themselves to slow down the colonization process (mass media information, challenging the land property policies in courts, etc.).

14. Regarding the economy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Mr. Matar stressed the fact that the occupied territories were monopolized and exclusive markets for Israeli industrial and agricultural goods and a source of cheap labour. In 1985, the deficit in the balance of trade in favour of Israel amounted to $800 million. The results of the occupation policies were a growing dependence and lack of development of the indigenous economy.

15. In his conclusions, Mr. Matar proposed that, to bring Israeli military occupation to an end, Palestinians living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem should be allowed to decide on their own future. A vote should be carried out under United Nations supervision and the ballot should include the following options:

(a) To remain under Israeli occupation;

(b) To be annexed to Israel;

(c) To join in a confederation with Jordan;

(d) To return to Jordanian and Egyptian administration;

(e) To have an independent Palestinian State;

(f) None of the above.

2. The costs-and-dangers-of not-implementing General-Assembly-resolution 38/58-C

16. Mr. Shafiq Al-Hout opened his statement by summarizing the basic principles agreed upon in previous meetings:

(a) The only option for the Middle East conflict, prevailing in the region since 1948, should be a political peaceful settlement based on United Nations resolutions relevant to the question of Palestine which recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as well as the right of all States in the region to existence within secure and internationally recognized boundaries;

(b) The question of Palestine is the core of the Middle East crisis; thus the Palestinians must participate under their only credible leadership, the PLO;

(c) Partial settlements, such as the Camp David Accords, should be rejected and all aspects of the conflict should be considered. Therefore the participation of both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America could balance and guarantee the results of the settlement;

(d) The search for peace, both at the regional and at the global levels, should be a major incentive for the struggle towards a settlement in the Middle East; In the Arab-Israeli conflict, the nuclear era could be the era of no return;

(e) The participation of the United States and Israel in the convening of the International Conference is indispensable.

17. Mr. Al-Hout noted that months earlier there were a few signs of hope that certain political moves might result in positive developments such as: the convening of the International Conference on the Middle East; the expected summit between the President of the United States and the Secretary-General of the USSR, Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in accordance with Security Council resolution 425 (1978), the unity to be restored within the PLO; and the end of the Iranian-Iraqi war. All those expectations had failed: the relationship between the two super-Powers had turned more tense and severe; the occupation of parts of Lebanon by Israel continued and its occupation in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights had intensified; hundreds of Palestinians and Tunisians had been killed during the monstrous air-raid against the PLO headquarters; the United States had carried an air-raid on Libya; and the war between Iran and Iraq continued.

18. Though that statement was pessimistic, it was also true and factual. The century, he stated, had witnessed two cruel world wars resulting in the killing of millions of people. If the Middle East crisis could not be solved peacefully and consequently a third world war broke out, there would be nobody left to scream or hear the scream.

* * *

19. On the same topic, Mr. Uri Avnery pointed out that an International Peace Conference would be advantageous for the following reasons:

(a) All the concerned Arab countries could be represented at the Conference;

(b) The PLO should be part of the process – a peace process without the PLO would be meaningless;

(c) Inter-Arab rivalry and intra-Palestinian conflicts would be contained in such a framework;

(d) The Israeli Government should accept authentic Palestinian presence (e.g. the PLO leadership) in the conference;

(e) Since 1948, history had shown that no peace in the Middle East was possible without the involvement of the two super-Powers;

(f) In such a conference, the other three permanent members of the Security Council would exercise a moderate and mediating influence;

(g) The Conference should be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in the framework of the Security Council, since that body was the only forum in which Israel and the PLO met and argued.

20. The International Conference should be viewed as a general framework for negotiations and it should not exclude direct negotiations between Arabs and Israelis, and especially between Israelis and Palestinians.

21. If progress towards peace was not made, the Middle East would face the following incalculable dangers:

(a) An Islamic fundamentalist revolution was likely to occur in one or several Arab States in the region;

(b) Extremist nationalistic and religious fundamentalist tendencies in Israel were arising with the possibility of turning Israel into a religious theocratic dictatorship;

(c) The ongoing Iraqi-Iranian war might take a catastrophic turn; the breakdown of the Iraqi army or regime would sweep the country into the Khomeini orbit;

(d) The declared intention of Syria to achieve military parity with Israel might provoke Israel into launching a pre-emptive strike, or induce Syria to risk a limited military confrontation; such a local conflict might create a worldwide crisis overnight. It should be the task of the United Nations to prevent a disaster of unforeseen dimensions before it became inevitable.

* * *

22. Also on the same topic, Mr. Tawfiq Toubi expressed the view that the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution calling for the convening of an International Peace Conference on the Middle East was another landmark in the long involvement of the United Nations in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Since the adoption of the historic "Partition resolution" on 29 November 1947, the United Nations had been deeply and consistently involved in the Middle East.

23. Furthermore, armed conflicts in the Middle East had been stopped and prevented with the help of the Security Council: in 1956, United Nations action on the tripartite aggression against Egypt; Security Council resolution 242 (1967); Security Council resolution 338 (1973) and convening of the Conference on the Middle East at Geneva in December 1973.

24. United States and Israeli efforts for partial or bilateral settlements had paralyzed the Geneva Middle East Conference and brought new explosions and catastrophies to the region.

25. The war aggression launched by Israel against Lebanon and the Palestinian people in Lebanon again had brought back the need for the convening of the International Peace Conference in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C. But once more, the same forces had upstaged these efforts. The Reagan Administration, with the Israeli Government's support and Jordanian and Egyptian co-operation, had initiated what was called the "United States peace process" based on promoting Israeli-Jordanian direct negotiations, with "acceptable" Palestinian representatives under United States auspices. That would be a second version of the Camp David Accords. Preventing the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East would create a dangerous impasse and threaten new explosions in the region. The dangers could also affect Israel in the following ways:

(a) Affected security and future, because of its dependency upon the United States, and greater involvement in the global and regional United States strategy;

(b) Increased military expenditure affecting social services and standard of living;

(c) Strengthening of nationalistic and reactionary fascist forces;

(d) Undermining of peace and security for all in the region;

(e) The Middle East turned into a dangerous volcano of conflicts and tensions involving the two super-Powers.

26. In his view, the refusal to convene the International Peace Conference reflected two basic premises:

a) Opposition to the participation of the Palestinian people, represented by the PLO as its legitimate representative, implied a denial of the just rights of the Palestinian people;

(b) Opposition to the participation of the USSR in the peace process implied a second version of the Camp David Accords. That agreement did not bring peace to the Middle East but brought a new catastrophe to the Palestinian and Lebanese people in 1982. Therefore the convening of the International Peace Conference, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/58 C, was an urgent necessity. An overwhelming majority of the international community supported that resolution. It was not accidental that world and regional forces opposed to detente also opposed a just and peaceful settlement of the Palestinian problem.

27. He noted that the United States opposition to the International Conference was based on imperialist considerations. Israeli opposition was also a factor of sabotage strengthened by the United States. Pro-imperialist reactionary Arab circles also connived against the Conference.

28. The proposal made by former Prime Minister Perez to convene what he called an "international forum" that would not include the USSR and the PLO was merely another version of the Camp David Accords. The excuse that the USSR could not participate in the Conference because of the absence of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Soviet Union was unacceptable. In 1973, Israel had participated in the Geneva Conference when diplomatic relations between those two countries were already severed.

29. In Mr. Toubi's view, the International Peace Conference would also lead to the normalization of relations between Israel and the USSR and other countries that had broken diplomatic relations in 1967. The International Conference remained the only mechanism to bring a just, comprehensive and stable peace to the Middle East.

3. Ways-and-means of promoting the-early-implementation of-United-Nations-General Assembly-resolution-38/58 C

30. Mr. Pete N. McCloskey pointed out in his statement that the solution to the Palestinian problem would be determined by the public opinion in the United States. In the 20 years he had been involved in politics in the United States, he had seen four major changes in American public policy. In all four cases, the Government's position was changed by the will and the public opinion of the American people and resisted by the American Government: the civil rights movement, the women's right movement, the environmental movement and the movement to end the war in Viet Nam. He further explained that two new movements were taking place in the United States aiming at the achievement of justice for blacks in South Africa and for Palestinians as well.

31. The battle for the achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people would be won or lost in the public opinion of the United Nations and public opinion would be changed by NGOs. Furthermore, he explained that new actions were required by the Palestinians themselves, as represented by their sole legitimate representative, the PLO. Unlike the Jewish community in the United States, the Palestinians did not have a network that was public-relations oriented to inform the American people throughout the United States. A Palestinian spokesperson was also needed and, in his opinion, that person should be a woman because of the widespread idea of Palestinians as terrorists.

32. The meetings sponsored by NGOs, held between Palestinians and Israelis throughout the United States, were slowly changing American public opinion to support the Palestinian cause. It was the view that Palestinians should have a separate homeland and that there should be direct negotiations with the PLO that American public opinion and the Jewish community should get. The clear consequence of those premises would be the unequivocal recognition of Israel by the PLO. The steps to achieve the convening of the Conference according to General Assembly resolution 38/58 C should start with an unequivocal declaration by the PLO that two States should be recognized in the area, an Arab State and a Jewish State, where the boundaries should be and the ultimate status of Jerusalem could be determined by negotiations. Mr. McCloskey finished his statement by pointing out that in order to obtain Palestinian statehood, the right to Israeli statehood should be recognized as well.

33. Mr. Vladimir Vinogradov, speaking on the same topic, stressed the view that the decision to convene an International Peace Conference on the Middle East was aimed at bringing the long-awaited peace and security to the weary nations of that turbulent region of the world. Peace-loving peoples of the world were interested in the earliest elimination of the conflict and, last but not least, European countries – but not only them – were aware of the danger posed by the Middle East being turned into a military stronghold for overseas armed power, which had no regard for the interests of the States and nations of the region itself and of Europe as well.

34. For a long time, he noted, the need to settle the Middle East conflict had been recognized by every State except Israel. Israel had trampled underfoot the United Nations resolution which established Israel and defined its borders. Israel had denied the Arab nation of Palestine its right to independent existence and that was the key to the problem.

35. He indicated that 140 countries unanimously had approved the Geneva Declaration of 1983. That document seemed to have placed the Middle East settlement on the right track. However, General Assembly resolution 38/58 C had not yet been implemented though there was no doubt about its urgency. The main reason for the failure to find acceptable forms of negotiations was Israel's policy of annexation. In the last 20 years, numerous settlement plans by various parties, including Arab States, the USSR and some European countries, even the United States, had emerged. Israel was the only State that had failed to offer even a single comprehensive settlement "plan" with the aim of achieving peace and security in the Middle East.

36. In December 1973, an International Peace Conference on the Middle East was convened in Geneva. The Conference offered a unique opportunity to attain a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East conflict. Both Israel and the United States had sabotaged the Conference and diverted its attention to partial settlements and begun putting pressure upon Arab parties to the conflict to conclude separate deals with Israel. Since then, not a single goal of a truly just settlement had been reached.

37. Historical experience had told us, he continued, that the most effective way of reaching a comprehensive and just settlement in the Middle East was through collective efforts made both by the sides directly involved, and by the USSR, the United States and the United Nations. The idea of convening an International Peace Conference on the Middle East was widely recognized and strongly supported in the world. The USSR had for a long time advanced that idea with the final goal of the Conference being an early, just and durable peace for all peoples in the Middle East. The Conference should settle all aspects of the conflict in fairness to all its participants. A stage by stage resolution of questions was not ruled out provided that there were no breaks between stages.

38. In order to accelerate the convening of the conference, it should be of primary importance that European and other States and NGOS intensify an international information campaign.

39. The Secretary-General of the Communist Party of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, had said that the century required new approaches, a new way of thinking which should be consonant with the current time of an increased responsibility of statesmen for the destinies of humanity. That could be applied to those political leaders involved in the Middle East policy.

40. He pointed out that the international meeting was not an anti-Israeli or an anti-Palestinian gathering but was against the militaristic and annexationist policy of the current Israeli Government.

41. He suggested that an appropriate United Nations body should be established to begin preparatory work since a decision to convene a conference already existed. That process could dispel possible apprehensions and identify points of convergence. What was required for the convening of the Conference was the political will of the States. The USSR remained a true champion of an early and just settlement on the Middle East and was prepared to co-operate with all those seeking to achieve that goal.

4. United-Nations-endeavours and-key-United-Nations resolutions-bearing-upon-the-convening-of-the International-Peace-Conference-on-the-Middle-East

42. Mr. Zehdi L. Terzi pointed out that three years had elapsed since the International Conference on the Question of Palestine (ICQP), held at Geneva in 1983, had called for the convening of an International Peace Conference on  the Middle east. The Conference had not been convened because of the lack of a consensus in the Security Council.

43. The General Assembly, by its resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947, had approved the plan for the partition of Palestine; it provided, inter-alia, for the establishment of an Arab and a Jewish State. The Palestinian question had thereby become a responsibility of the United Nations. So far, the Security Council had not addressed this issue. The adoption of resolution 181 (II) had been followed by the outbreak of war. As a result of the war, Israel had come to control the major part of the territory of Palestine, including western Jerusalem, and more than 700,000 Palestinians had also been displaced from their homes. An uneasy peace was maintained until 1967. By the end of the 1967 war, Israel had occupied the Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. One and a half million Palestinians had become refugees, many for the second time. The same year, the Security Council had adopted resolution 242 (1967). In 1969, the General Assembly had recognized that "the problem of the Palestine Arab refugees had arisen from the denial of their inalienable rights" and "that full respect for the inalienable rights of the people of Palestine is an indispensable element in the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East". In 1974, the rights of the Palestinian people had been defined by the General Assembly, and a year later, the Assembly had established the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

44. The Committee's recommendations had since been repeatedly approved by the General Assembly. The opposition of a permanent member of the Security Council, however, had prevented the Council from following up the recommendations. Those recommendations were further defined by the ICQP. For the first time, more than 100 NGOs had been invited to attend. The ICQP had adopted the Geneva Declaration which listed a major guiding principle to govern any international action for the purpose of resolving the question of Palestine. The Conference had considered that an International Peace Conference on the Middle East should be convened with the aim of negotiating and finalizing a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The General Assembly had endorsed the convening of such a conference by its resolution 38/58 C. Because of the negative response of the governments of the United States and Israel and the hesitancy of others, it had not been possible so far to convene the Conference. The Committee, he continued, was nonetheless determined to pursue its efforts to ensure that the Conference took place. It was to be clear that only the United Nations, and in particular the Security Council, could provide for it the legal and political framework acceptable to the international community.

45. Accordingly, the Committee had made the Conference the main focus of its programme of work. In essence, the Committee had then to start on the unfinished part of the resolution adopted in 1948 through a call for the convening of the International Peace Conference.

46. During all those years, it had been proven that a lasting peace and security could not be attained by military means but should be attained through a legal and political process. It was with those considerations in mind that the General Assembly, in its resolution 40/96 D of 13 December 1985, had reaffirmed again its endorsement of the convening of the Conference. The NGO community had also made the proposed Conference one of its major concerns and expressed their intention to raise that issue with their respective governments through the idea of a worldwide campaign for signatures which had been reaffirmed at the previous international NGO meeting.

* * *

47. Mr. E. Ousmane Sarr, speaking on the same topic, pointed out that in 1947 the United Nations, by deciding on the Partition Plan, had assumed the historic responsibility of creating the necessary conditions for the observance of the rules established by the international Organization. In 1948, the United Nations had established the Conciliation Commission for Palestine as a result of the war. The implementation of those guidelines drawn up by the United Nations was greatly obstructed by the annexationist policy of Israel. In 1949, the Security Council had decided to admit Israel as a Member State, and by that decision Israel had made a solemn commitment to observe the Charter of the United Nations and to comply with one of its main rules, the peaceful settlement of disputes by negotiation.

48. The Arab-Israeli conflict was an international matter by virtue of its origin, its developments and its consequences, and therefore it called for an international treatment in an international framework.

49. He explained that the International Peace Conference was the most flexible framework that the United Nations could propose. It was Mr. Sarr's opinion that resolution 38/58 C of 1983 derived from the 1947 General Assembly resolution that had established the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine and was a synthesis of all United Nations efforts to reach a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestine question.

50. By its resolution 3376 (XXX) of 10 November 1975, the General Assembly had decided to establish the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Committee had produced a set of recommendations that had been endorsed by the General Assembly at its thirty-first session.

51. The Committee urged the members of the Security Council to act in a supportive manner in order to bring about a constructive dialogue between the parties to the conflict. In spite of the Council paralysis, the majority of its members, including the USSR, were in favour of convening the International Peace Conference. In 1985, the Committee had sent delegations to several countries members of the Security Council and had also participated in international conferences and meetings.

52. By its resolution 38/58 B, the General Assembly had initiated a systematic co-operation with NGOs whose activities were concerned with the Palestine question. NGOs provided essential support in disseminating information on the Palestinian conflict and in organizing specific actions to facilitate the convening of the International Peace Conference. Regional symposia organized by the Committee had been held in Asia, North America, Europe and Africa. International NGO meetings had been held in Geneva with the aim of convening the International Peace Conference on the Middle East. However, all the efforts carried out by the United Nations and NGOs would be to no avail unless a condition was met: the recognition of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Mr. Sarr concluded by affirming that the instruments and the framework for convening the International Peace Conference already existed and that NGOs should help to bring about their proposals and concrete actions so that peace could be brought to the Middle East.

B. Mobilization-of-public-opinion and-the-question-of-Palestine

53. Mr. David Watkins started his statement by explaining the different categories of NGOs that existed in Great Britain. He pointed out that there was hardly any single NGO in the United Kingdom whose major concern was to advance the question of Palestine. There were, however, important NGOs whose work was primarily of a humanitarian nature, namely Christian churches.

54. In the developed western countries, NGOs whose major concern was to advocate the Palestinian cause were established and maintained by groups of dedicated individuals with very limited financial resources. That was linked to the point of fund raising. In his opinion, those NGOs should be seen as independent and dedicated to principle and conscience in order to be able to keep their integrity and credibility intact.

55. On the other hand, Zionist and Israeli lobby had worked for no less than seven decades to mobilize western public opinion. As an example, he mentioned several world-renowned writers, such as John H. Davis, Moshe Menuhin and Paul Findley, who had had great difficulty finding publishers for their books. A powerful Zionist lobby made the task of mobilizing public opinion very hard. However, sale of Mr. Findley's book had already run to 52,000 copies in hardback edition alone, even before the forthcoming paperback edition. So the signs are, that for all the problems in the western countries, the work of the pioneers in the mobilization of public opinion has already created a foundation from which NGOs can take encouragement and upon which they can build.

56. The first task for NGOs would be to mobilize opinion among policy-makers, government ministers, party leaders and parliamentarians through direct representation. However, it should be emphasized that the representations made must be most meticulously based on accurate, up to date information and should be successfully argued against indifferent and hostile viewpoints.

57. The message, in his opinion, should be carried out to those not yet converted. It was of special importance to address groups in schools and universities. Furthermore, Jewish opinion should also be mobilized. There were already a number of indications that a growing body of Jewish opinion, in European countries and in Israel, was gravely concerned over the question of Palestine. In his opinion, the media, radio and television were probably the most influential ways for mobilizing public opinion. An "action alert" system should exist to warn biased and inaccurate statements with appropriate information. In this connection, NGOs should have well informed speakers available for interviews. Bulletins and publications, such as the one prepared by the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding, should be published. Mr. Watkins ended his statement by pointing out that, to counterbalance misinformation provided by Zionist and Israeli organizations, NGOs should bring a newness and an integrity to the causes of truth, justice and peace.

58. Mr. Eugene Gus Newport, in his statement on the same topic, stressed the point that the most important source of instability in the region was the lack of resolution of the Palestinian question: the implementation of the Palestinians' national rights, including the right to a homeland. All other schemes, military or otherwise, or the so-called "peace initiatives" that denied the fundamental national rights of the Palestinians, had not brought peace any closer.

59. In 1986, a Jordanian initiative, which sought to establish King Hussein of Jordan as the representative of the Palestinian people and was backed by the Reagan Administration, had suffered a predictable defeat. In September 1982, the Reagan Plan also had resulted in no progress towards peace. Both plans sought to deny the legitimacy of the PLO and to create an alternative leadership. Equally ineffective had been the repeated attempts under different Israeli administrations to suppress the political will of the Palestinians under occupation. He pointed out that an overwhelming majority of them remained allied with the PLO and committed to a homeland and self-determination.

60. For those reasons, the United Nations resolutions, the United Nations intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies, and the Secretary-General had played such important roles. In 1979, following the signing of the Camp David Accords, the General Assembly had condemned "all partial agreements and separate treaties which constitute flagrant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people". Two years before, the United Nations had recognized that any international conference had to include representation of the PLO. The United Nations had developed, through many years, a definitive framework for a just and lasting peace. The International Conference on the Question of Palestine, held at Geneva in 1983, had formulated the guidelines and the mechanism for the implementation of those rights. In his view, those principles were compatible with the United Nations' long search for peace in the region, with the Twelfth Summit Conference of the Arab League, held in Morocco in 1982, and with the proposal put forward in 1982 by President Leonid Brezhnev of the USSR and reaffirmed in 1984.

61. To popularize the guidelines of the Geneva Conference and to awaken the people of the world, in particular the people of the United States, should be the task of NGOs.

62. In his opinion, the Reagan Administration and its NATO allies defined terrorism without giving it a social analysis. He addressed the issue of terrorism by describing the historical evolution of the very concept of contemporary terrorism. He started by explaining the concept of "theatre of war". in his opinion, this concept went back at least 500 years to the time when European armies were composed of men who designated the battlefield by the appropriate arena of conflict. The next major development was "guerilla warfare". The notion of "theatre of battle" in European terms changed when the European Powers had to battle against colonized people, for those people employed tactics that would shift the very meaning of war. The next concept, "terrorism", was, in his view, an empirical understandable progression from the battlefield to the strategic ploys of generals to guerilla warfare. An explanation of the notion of terrorism could be found in T. Hobbes' central insight about the human condition and social order. There was a parallel between the war of each against all, in Hobbes' terms, and the affairs of nations. On the surface the most powerful nations clearly dominated the weaker ones, but outside the theatre of war, the guerilla warrior "equalized" matters. Furthermore, "terrorists" could bring the biggest, strongest country to a point where its inhabitants would be so afraid of death that they would become hostages in their own land.

63. The United States and Israeli administrations characterized the strategic approach to the Middle East as a strict power relationship preserving their dominant military and economic position in the region. It was the exact policy followed by the Botha regime in South Africa= it was State terrorism under the guise of fight against terrorism.

64. He closed his statement by saying that certain major Powers hid behind their change of definition of terrorists and used that type of propaganda as a smoke screen to avoid the creation of an objective dialogue for a just and peaceful solution to the situation in the Middle East which would guarantee a homeland to the Palestinian people and assure that all peoples in the Middle East could live in peace side by side.

Annex I

DECLARATION OF THE NGOs AT THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL NGO MEETING ON THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

1. We, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) participating in the third United Nations International NGO Meeting on the Question of Palestine, wish to thank the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for convening this meeting. We are indeed honoured by the presence of the members and observers of the distinguished United Nations body.

2. We also wish to thank the Chief of the Division for Palestinian Rights, the NGO liaison officers and the staff of the Division and of the Department of Conference Services, including the interpreters, for their valuable assistance in the preparation and execution of this meeting. We believe this meeting strengthens the bonds between the United Nations and the international NGO community concerned with the absence of a just and durable solution to the question of Palestine and we look forward to increasing levels of understanding, appreciation and co-operation.

3. We also wish to voice our appreciation to the distinguished experts, resource persons and moderators who spoke here and offered valuable historical and political thoughts, as well as a perspective on the important role to be played by NGOs. The practical suggestions emanating from the workshops assisted us in formulating future plans for effective collaboration in linking our efforts to a broader, global network.

4. We recognize that 1987 will be the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 for the partition of Palestine, the twentieth anniversary of the 1967 war and the subsequent Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the fifth anniversary of the destructive Israeli aggression against Lebanon and the massacre at Sabra and Shatila.

5. We recognize that self-determination of the Palestinian people and their right to self-government in their own independent State in Palestine is a central requirement for peace and security, for a just and durable peace between Israel and the Palestinian national State and its Arab neighbours, and is in full accord with one of the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

6. We fully uphold the Geneva Declaration on Palestine a/ of 7 September 1983 adopted by the International Conference on the Question of Palestine, held at Geneva from 29 August to 7 September 1983, in favour of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East and we fully uphold General Assembly Resolution 38/58 C of 13 December 1983. It is essential that the Conference be inclusive and be attended by representatives of both Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), those Arab States party to the conflict, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, all on an equal footing. We are aware that not only world peace, but also the human and civil rights of the Palestinian people have been set back by the non-implementation of the Assembly resolution 38/58C.

7. We confirm absolutely the international consensus that the PLO is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in its just struggle for its inalienable rights. Noting the support of the Palestinian people for the PLO, we reject the idea that anyone other than the Palestinian people can decide who should represent it, all the more so as the first act of any people in implementing its right to self-determination is the choice of its own representation. We support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to fully independent decision-making, through the PLO.

8. Accordingly, we call upon all Governments that do not recognize the PLO to do so. Equally, we call upon all Governments to support the convening of the International Peace Conference and to work for the realization of such a conference as a top priority.

9. We view with grave concern the law proposed by the Israeli Government that would make any meeting between an Israeli citizen and a member of the PLO punishable by three years imprisonment. We urge the Israeli Government to drop immediately that proposed law and we call upon all Governments to exert their influence upon the Israeli Government to do so.

10. We note with great concern the discriminatory policy and practices the Israeli Government committed with regard to the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, and condemn the racist laws and practices that endanger their existence in their homeland. We call upon the Israeli Government to implement equality for the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. We declare our support for the struggle of the Arab Israeli community together with the Jewish democratic forces for equality and security.

11. We express solidarity with the Israeli peace forces who voice opposition to the oppressive policies of the Israeli Government, within the Israeli Parliament and among the Israeli public. In particular, we express solidarity with those who, as an act of peace, accept imprisonment for their refusal to engage in military service in the occupied territories. We gladly note the emergence of peace forces within the Oriental Jewish Community in Israel. We regard this as a Host significant development.

12. We condemn the continuation of repressive measures taken by the Israeli authorities against the Arab population in the occupied territories (arrests, torture, demolition of houses and land requisitions) and call upon all Governments and peoples to urge the Israeli Government to put an end to these measures.

13. We note with great concern the continued attacks on the Palestinian refugee camps in and around Beirut and condemn the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people in the cam. We call upon all concerned parties to enforce a durable cease-fire and to ensure the flow of medical and relief supplies to the camps through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other international agencies.

14. We call upon the concerned parties to guarantee the security of the Palestinian people in Lebanon and to guarantee their right to live in security in Lebanon. The presence of the Palestinian people in refugee camps is a result of non-fulfilment of General Assembly resolution 181 (II). We call upon the General Assembly to take the necessary measures to ensure the security and presence of the Palestinian people in Lebanon and elsewhere.

15. We call attention to the continued Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, intervention in Lebanese internal affairs through political coercion and oppressive action in the south. We demand the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the release of the thousands held in prison.

16. The aim of this meeting was to develop practical objectives and strategies to be implemented by NGOs around the globe. Our primary work was conducted in plenary sessions and workshops and we affirm the conclusions and proposals of the workshops as we have amended them below. The workshops specifically addressed the challenge of how to build popular support for a just and lasting peace, particularly on special commemorative days in 1987.

17. The Meeting agrees with the report of the Workshop on Development, Solidarity and Relief, which stressed the need for the NGOs to extend their work with the Palestinians. The Workshop affirmed it support for UNRWA and called for more contributions to voluntary organizations that employ people and build economic infrastructure in the occupied territories. Specific projects include promotion of the products of the Same workshops and those of other Palestinian organizations, creation of a Palestinian calendar for global distribution and the important mobilization of artists, sportsmen and other celebrities in each country to support publicly the Palestinian people.

18. The Meeting agrees with the report of the Workshop on the Peace Movement that there is an indisputable connection between peace in the Middle East and peace and security in the rest of the world. The Workshop noted in particular the danger of nuclear war in the Middle East, the nuclear capability of Israel and the nuclear connection between Israel and South Africa, and the necessity of transforming the entire Middle East into a nuclear-free zone. It specifically called for new materials to be prepared on those issues for global dissemination and the convening of a special meeting of NGOs with the representatives of peace movements and the participation of ICC and other NGOs present at the Meeting in major peace even is .

19. The Meeting agrees with the report of the Workshop on Civil and Human Rights that the protection of Palestinian human rights should be the highest priority for the 1986/87 meeting of ICC and all NGOs assembled here. The impact of Israel's continued occupation, the continuing violation of international law, the denial of Palestinian self-determination and the strategic relation between Israel and the United States, which directly contributes to the violation of Palestinian rights, were discussed. Several practical proposals were offered, including developing the NGO network to enhance the rapid exchange of human rights data and emergency information and sending a commission of inquiry of eminent persons to investigate and draw international attention to the situation. The Workshop also urged the NGOs to form links with the anti-apartheid movement and to devote a week in 1987 to a global focus on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.

20. The Meeting agrees with the report of the Workshop on Information, Media and Political Decision-Makers that NGOs need to work with journalists and scientists to encourage a more accurate treatment of the question of Palestine, to form closer ties with anti-racism groups, to become active on Central American issues, to encourage all to observe 1987 as the "Year of Palestine", to facilitate contact between Palestinians and Israeli peace and civil rights groups and to work with tours going to the region. It also emphasized the importance of using specific cases to educate and rally support through the media.

21. We concur that influencing world public opinion, as well as opinion in key countries, is a decisive factor in securing a just and durable resolution to the question of Palestine. We will continue to work with local populations to increase their understanding of the issues and the just cause of the Palestinian people in order to mobilize their political, social and spiritual power. We believe that we are uniquely qualified to present the issue to the public in its vital human perspective.

22. We, NGOs present here for this International Meeting, see ourselves as a nucleus of a broader, world-wide effort. We commit our selves to identify and involve many other NGOs in the network.

23. We are aware of the financial constraints challenging the United Nations at this time. Nevertheless, we urge the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights to continue to offer all positive assistance to this NGO movement, including in particular the regular convening of regional symposia and international meetings.

24. We reaffirm the organization and work of ICC. We confirm the decision to establish the ICC Secretariat in Geneva in 1986. We understand that we must support, in every way, this important step toward a more effective global network. We call upon the United Nations to offer every possible assistance to ICC and its secretariat, and to facilitate the convening of meetings of ICC in 1987. ICC looks to even closer relations with the United Nations and its appropriate agencies.

25. We urge the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to convey this Declaration to the General Assembly at its forty-first session as part of the Committee's report.

Notes

a/ Report of the International Conference on the Question of Palestine, Geneva, 29 August: 7 September 1983 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.83.I.21), chap. I, sect. A.

Annex II

WORKSHOP REPORTS

A. Report of the Development, Solidarity and Relief Workshop

The Workshop stressed the need for extending and intensifying the solidarity, developmental and relief work of the NGOs with the Palestinians. Certain specific areas were mentioned and the following suggestions brought forward.

(a) To help in the co-ordination and sharing of resources, the new secretariat of ICC could compile a reference document on organizations and agencies serving in the field of development, solidarity and social services;

(b) NGOs should systematize the process of co-ordination by meeting on the basis of small geographical regions or areas of services (e.g. health, training, etc.);

(c) NGOs should pressure their Governments to give financial support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA);

(d) NGOs should actively publicize human interest stories about current programmes of social service and problems in implementation, such as the recent closing of a hospital in Jerusalem and the rejection of certain developmental projects by the Government;

(e) Small project work, which serves as an educational vehicle to people at grass roots level as well as to politicians about the rights and needs of the Palestinians, should be carried out in the humanitarian field;

(f) NGOs should encourage the international community to increase its contributions to private organizations which are employing people and building an economic and social infrastructure in the occupied territories;

(g) While emphasizing investment of capital projects, NGOs should give preference, whenever feasible, to community building and social awareness projects;

(h) Palestinians in the occupied territories and elsewhere should identify priorities of human services. The PLO should define, on behalf of the Palestinian people, priorities to Governments and NGOs in countries where contact with Palestinians is restricted;

(i) NGOs should facilitate initiatives to promote the products of SAMED and of other Palestinian grass roots organizations;

(j) NGOs should draw up a Palestine calendar with the different important Palestinian historical days specified. Celebration of these days would help to arouse the necessary public opinion concerning the Palestinian struggle;

(k) NGOs should mobilize groups of artists and sportsmen in their countries who can influence public opinion for the Palestinians, especially on the Palestinian commemoration days in 1987.

B. Report of the Peace Movements Workshop

To involve peace movements in the efforts to achieve a just peace in the Middle East, the core of which is the realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people, the following measures are recommended:

(a) Highlight the importance of a just settlement of the Middle East conflict, dealing with peace and security in Europe, the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa and the Indian Ocean,

(b) Emphasize the consequences of the deadly connection between nuclear weapons and the Middle East conflict, dealing with the danger of nuclear war due to the growing nuclearization of the Mediterranean and the Middle East region;

(c) stress the necessity of a just solution of the Palestine question and of peace in the Middle East to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by the countries of the region;

(d) Launch a campaign against military operations in the Middle East by forces from outside the region which could lead to global confrontation, with the aim of sensitizing the public in Europe and North America to the dangers resulting from the continuation of the Middle East conflict;

(e) Make every effort to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions on the transformation of the Middle East into a nuclear-weapon free zone;

(f) Further the campaigns concerning the threats to world peace due to Israeli policies, with special references to the Israeli nuclear capability, the nuclear connection between Israel and South Africa, the sales of arms to reactionary regimes, United States-Israel strategic co-operation and the participation of Israel in the preparation for the militarization of outer space.

With the aim of promoting these activities, the following suggestions could be implemented :

(a) Produce information material on these issues for broad dissemination among peace movements;

(b) Request ICC and the regional co-ordinating committees to develop networking among peace movements ;

(c) Seek the possibility of holding a special meeting with the representatives of peace movements in Europe and North America;

(d) Request ICC to participate in major peace events.

C. Report of the Human Rights Workshop

The human rights dimension of the Palestinian question, including the right of self-determination, should be given the highest priority by ICC, particularly in light of the urgent need to respect the human rights of Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel, within pre-1967 Palestine and within Arab States.

Human rights must be seen within four contexts that inform the analysis and activities in defence of Palestinian rights:

(a) The geopolitical context, which sees Israel as a strategic instrument of United States foreign, economic and military policy in the whole Middle East;

(b) Israel's military occupation, which is designed politically to expel the majority of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, thus highlighting the urgency of the situation,

(c) The corpus of international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which is rejected by Israel in the occupied territories, yet must be upheld as applicable by all States Members of the United Nations;

(d) The principle of self-determination as a fundamental right for Palestinians, which must be upheld in all human rights endeavours, otherwise work and advocacy programmes reflect only half of the total situation.

The Human Rights Workshop therefore proposes the following activities to ICC and all NGOs for consideration in their programme for the coming year.

(a) ICC should send a high-level "Commission of Inquiry of Prominent Persons" to look into the question of Palestinian human rights,

(b) ICC should develop mechanisms for network information and rapid exchange of human rights data, utilizing the latest computer technology, and that the Secretariat and selected ICC members co-ordinate such a human rights network;

(c) ICC should focus prominently on International Prisoners Day, 17 April, and on the various components of the Day's activities, such as media campaigns, adopting cases of particular prisoners, fasting in solidarity with Palestinians prisoners, touring speakers, etc. ;

(d) NGOs should form links with the anti-apartheid movement to draw the political, legal, and economic parallels of the two apartheid situations and to view the two experiences as two faces of apartheid;

(e) ICC should select an organization or team of researchers who will study the anti-apartheid and Central American work done on human rights, so as to strengthen the ICC work on human rights;

(f) ICC should designate a week to give emphasis to Palestinian human rights;

(g) ICC and all NGOs should heed the crisis of Palestinian human rights in Lebanon, particularly in the Beirut camps, which have experienced two wars in less than two years. The Cairo Agreement (1969) guarantees the security of Palestinians and authorizes their presence. This has been de facto negated by the Government of Lebanon and various militias, yet the Agreement is in force de jure under the Arab League.

Therefore we call upon the United Nations Security Council and the League of Arab States to investigate the use of a protective force in and around Palestinian camps and to facilitate the complete withdrawal of Israel from its occupation of the south of Lebanon.

Annex III

MESSAGE FROM MR.YASSER ARAFAT, CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE

PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION, CONVEYED BY

MR. DAOUD BARARAT, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PLO TO THE

FEDERAL AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT AND PERMANENT OBSERVER

OF THE PLO AT THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT VIENNA

His Excellency the Chairman of the United Nations Meeting of Non-governmental Organizations on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,

Revolutionary greetings.

It gives me great pleasure, as you convene your esteemed Meeting on the inalienable Palestinian rights, to send to you all, Mr. Chairman, participants and Honourable guests, in the name of our Palestinian people, in the name of my brothers, members of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and in my own name, our revolutionary greetings and sincerest wishes for the success of your Meeting.

I avail myself of this opportunity to express the best wishes and appreciation of our Palestinian Arab people and of the PLO, their sole legitimate representative, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, for the important role he is playing for the maintenance of international peace, within the framework of international legality.

I avail myself also of this opportunity to express our deepest thanks to the friendly Republic of Austria, its President, its Government and its people for hosting your esteemed Meeting and for the facilities provided for its success.

This reflects the constant and principled position which is taken by Austria at the side of our just Palestinian cause, and the continuous struggle of our people for the liberation of their land and the regaining of their inalienable national rights.

We express also our deepest thanks to all the NGOs participating in this conference. We express our deepest thanks to them for their participation in supporting the Palestinian cause and the just struggle of our Palestinian Arab people, and for explaining the justness of this cause, whether on the local level or on the level of international public opinion.

Dear brothers,

You are convening your Meeting at a time when our Palestinian Arab people, inside and outside our occupied homeland, are being exposed to organized campaigns of extermination, directed by United States imperialism and by the Tel Aviv Government.

Their aim is to liquidate the Palestinian cause and to erase the Palestinian factor from the Middle East equation, as an indispensable step to achieve their total control over the Middle East region and to loot its riches.

For its part, the United States Administration continues its political, military, economic, financial, diplomatic and informational support for the Zionist enemy. Simultaneously, the United States Administration continues to deny the inalienable rights of our Palestinian Arab people which have been decided upon by the international community in a number of resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.

The United States Administration continues its attempts to bypass the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It attempts to jeopardize the Palestinian cause and eliminate the PLO and to deny our people's inalienable rights, particularly their right to establish their independent State.

The Israeli occupation authorities, for their part, continue their aggressive policies against our Palestinian Arab people, policies which are based on the denial of their inalienable national rights, and the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories, just as the Golan Heights and Jerusalem have been annexed.

In order to realize the objectives the occupation authorities increase the pattern of repression, oppression, imprisonment, detention, expulsion and deportation of our people under Israeli occupation. The occupation authorities intensify their policy of expropriation of Palestinian lands, water resources and the establishment of settlements on these lands.

Furthermore, these authorities unleash the Zionist gangs of terror, encourage them, arm than, finance them and provide them with the informational cover and racist and emergency laws to perpetrate their terrorist acts against our people in their towns, villages and refugee camps.

They encourage them to desecrate the Christian and Islamic holy places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron.

In addition to all these practices, the occupation authorities attempt to impose functional partition and self-rule as a new form of the bantustans prevailing in South Africa.

Outside the occupied homeland, the Tel Aviv Government continues to intensify its campaigns against our Palestinian people. It sends its war-planes to destroy the PLO headquarters in Tunisia, hijacks civilian aircraft, dispatches its warships to commit acts of piracy and seizes a number of ships carrying construction material and medical equipment to our refugee camps in Lebanon in addition to a number of our people on board these ships .

Furthermore, the Tel Aviv Government dispatches its war-planes, tanks and army to attack and bombard the refugee camps of our people in southern Lebanon with the aim of displacing them and eradicating the patriotic Palestinian spirit of those who have remained there.

In Beirut our Palestinian people in the Sabra, Shatila and Burj Al-Barajneh refugee camps, where the Israeli enemy perpetrated odious massacres, have been exposed, over the last few weeks, to new massacres perpetrated by the gangs of the "Aural" movement, and the Sixth Brigade of the Lebanese Army, regrettably with the support and the assistance of certain Arab intelligence services.

These massacres are being perpetrated in an effort which is well co-ordinated with the Israeli conspiracy which is being carried into effect in the occupied territories and in southern Lebanon with the aim of liquidating the Palestinian presence in Lebanon. More than 500 martyrs have been counted and over 1,500 Palestinians and Lebanese have been wounded as a result of the extermination campaign carried out by the "Aural" gangs and the Lebanese Sixth Brigade in Beirut.

The "Aural" gangs deployed around the refugee camps thwarted the efforts deployed by humanitarian and international organizations to bring food and medical supplies inside the refugee camps and they did not allow the evacuation of the wounded for treatment in the hospitals.

This situation threatens to cause an outbreak of epidemics and other contagious diseases among those living in the camps.

You are certainly aware, dear brothers, that the expulsion and displacement of our people from the refugee camps in Lebanon is in flagrant violation of the United Nations resolution which provides for the maintenance of their legal status, as well as a violation of the resolutions of the League of Arab States which provides for the maintenance of the national identity of the Palestinian people.

Along with these feverish imperialist and Zionist campaigns, there are other attempts made by some other regional forces which also aim at changing the legal status of the refugee camps in compliance with the settlement conspiracy which imperialism and Israel and trying to impose in the area, in order to assimilate the Palestinian national personality, erase the Palestinian factor from the Middle East equation and Balkanize the whole area.

Dear brothers,

In the midst of these difficult and bitter circumstances through which our Palestinian people are passing and which are characterized by the campaigns of assimilation and integration of their national and political identity, our people confront these hysterical campaigns with the resolve of revolutionaries and freedom-lovers, offering tremendous sacrifices.

Our Palestinian Arab people reiterate their commitment to establish peace in Palestine, the land of peace and love.

Our people reaffirm that justice and peace are inseparable. Our Palestine National Council has reflected this Palestinian popular will in its resolutions. Thus we reaffirm in front of you all, today, our call to convene the International Peace Conference, under the auspices of the United Nations, with the participation of the permanent members of the Security Council and all the parties concerned in the Middle East conflict including the PLO on an equal footing.

Dear brothers,

It has become clear to the whole world that peace and justice in the Middle East cannot be achieved at the expense of the just Palestinian cause; peace will not be realized unless the inalienable rights of our Palestinian Arab people, including their right to return, to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent Palestinian State, are realized.

The international community has expressed this conviction in resolutions adopted by the United Nations, representing international legality. The insistence of the United States Administration and of the Tel Aviv Government on their policy of denial of these national rights, of ignoring the PLO and of attempting to bypass it will only lead to further tension, disturbances, wars, pain and sacrifice for the peoples in the area and throughout the world.

Dear brothers,

We are confident that your esteemed Meeting will be a positive contribution towards the achievement of peace and justice in our area. This conviction emanates from the fact that the NGOs have an important influence on national and international public opinion and in its mobilization in order to exert pressure on the Governments that obstruct the road to peace. The role of the NGOs is also very important in increasing support for the just struggle being waged by our Palestinian Arab people for the liberation of their land and far the restoration of their inalienable national rights, including their right to return, to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent Palestinian State.

Finally, I reiterate to you my thanks, greetings and wishes for the success of your Meeting.

Our people will for ever remember these strong and principled positions at the side of their just struggle and legitimate rights.

Revolution until victory:

Annex IV

COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NGO INTERNATIONAL

CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE ON THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

A. Telegrams dated 4 July 1986 addresses to Mr. Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel

We, representatives of non-governmental organizations on the question of Palestine, gathered at our Third International Conference in Vienna, view with grave concern the bill proposed by your Government to make any meeting between an Israeli citizen and a member of the PLO a crime punishable by three years' imprisonment. We call upon your Government to drop this bill whose effect would be to make the search for peace a crime in Israel.

* * *

We protest vigorously about the deteriorating conditions of Palestinian prisoners, in particular the placing of Palestinian political prisoners in cells together with common-law criminals. The protest of women prisoners at Neve Tertze prison on 21 June led to a violent attack by guards using clubs and tear-gas bombs. Five of the women prisoners have been taken to Abu Kbir prison and put in solitary confinement, leading to a hunger strike by the other prisoners. We insist that conditions in prisons be improved and that political prisoners be separated from common-law offenders.

B. Telegram dated 4 July 1986 addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Taking into consideration the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and the continuing lack of implementation of United Nations General Assembly resolution 38/58 C, we request your Excellency to undertake those necessary steps for initiating this International Peace Conference. Such a Conference is considered by the NGO community as the only way to begin to solve the Palestinian question and to bring to the region a just and durable peace.

Your efforts in this direction will be especially appreciated in the coming year , which includes three important anniversaries closely related to the history of the Middle East conflict.

C. Telegram dated -4 July 1986-addressed to Mr.  Yasser Arafat,  Chairman of the Executive Committee of the PLO

The Third International Meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine thanks you for your message to the Meeting and expressed its continuing absolute support for the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in their struggle for their inalienable rights. We will strive in all our respective countries to mobilize public opinion in support of self-determination far the Palestinian people.

D. Letter dated 4 July 1986 addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations

We, delegates of 66 non-governmental organizations participating in the Third United Nations International Meeting for Non-Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine, being held at the Vienna International Centre, 2-4 July 1986, condemn the continuing attacks upon the Palestinian camps of Sabra, Shatila, and Burj Al-Barajneh in West Beirut. The escalating destruction in human lives and property is of grave concern to all of us. This assault can only be seen as a continuation of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila committed by the Israeli and Phalangist forces in 1982. The tragedy of the residents in these camps must come to an immediate end.

The divisions existing among the Lebanese people and between the Lebanese and Palestinian people will only be deepened by such attacks and will only further serve the goals of their common enemies.

The solution to the Palestinian question in Lebanon must be addressed as an integral part of a comprehensive solution to the Lebanese conflict.

We call for the immediate cessation of hostility against the Palestinian camps. We reaffirm our support far the legitimate rights of the Palestinians to live in peace and dignity in Lebanon, including their right to rebuild, administer, maintain and protect the residents within the camps.

We call upon the Secretary-General to convene an emergency meeting of the Security Council to implement the statement of 6 June 1986 (S/18138) of the President of the Security Council concerning the assault on the camps, in order to secure an effective cease-fire, the lifting of the siege of the camps, and guarantee the free flow of relief and supplies to the inhabitants of the camps .

Annex V

REPORT OF THE 1985-86 INTERNATIONAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE

FOR NGOs ON THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE

1. At the United Nations International NGO Meeting on the Question of Palestine that was convened at Geneva in September 1985, the 1985-1986 International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC) was selected. Its 22 members are charged with continuing the collaboration with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights in developing the regional and international meetings for 1986. Further, , ICC was to work toward the implementation of the main resolutions adopted by the assembled NGO community. Although the member organizations of ICC are characterized by differences in organizational goals, nationality, culture, ideology and religion, they share a common commitment of solidarity with the Palestinian people and to the cause of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

2. Its accepted tasks included the enlargement of the NGO network through local and regional contacts and correspondence. The very composition of the current ICC attests to the broadening, global perspective represented there. Only Latin America remains unrepresented at this time. ICC considers this vital role of networking as its prime concern and an ongoing process.

3. ICC also continued its involvement with the global signature campaign for the convening of the International Peace Conference on the Middle East, as charged by the 1985 NGO declaration. At this juncture, it is felt that the campaign is not proving to be an effective tool for mobilizing public opinion and, even though the project is to continue until November 1987, ICC recommends that the effort be curtailed in favour of other, more productive strategies.

4. In accordance with paragraph 24 of the 1985 NGO Declaration, ICC has worked toward the establishment of an NGO secretariat, based in Geneva, to assist in the NGO co-ordination. Conditional upon the securing of funds and the continuing commitment of NGOs concerned with the project, ICC is proceeding with the opening of such a secretariat office in Geneva in 1986.

5. ICC met three times in the past year, once at the invitation of the United Nations in March and twice on its own initiative in January and June. Much of the ICC meeting time was devoted to preparing the International Meeting in collaboration with the United Nations Division for Palestinian Rights and to developing ways and means to enhance the size and activity of the emerging global network. ICC attempted to place major emphasis on action and practical plans for NGO collaboration that extends far beyond the United Nations-sponsored regional symposia and international meetings. ICC considers these efforts as steps along the path to success.

6. The United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Division for Palestinian Rights have continued their co-operation with ICC in many ways beyond the sponsorship of the March meeting, including work on the NGO directory. The United Nations featured members of ICC at the Solidarity Day commemoration, held at New York, its Headquarters, and the Geneva office on 29 November. ICC members also spoke at the Hague, and attended the North American and European regional symposia at their own expense.

7. ICC considers the further development of the North American Co-ordinating Committee and the recent formation of the European Co-ordinating Committee to be important and potentially effective steps toward global co-ordination. These two bodies plus co-ordinators in Africa and Asia will establish even closer relations with ICC until a global information and action-alert network exists among the world's NGO concerned about peace in the Middle East. ICC firmly believes that this network will be significantly strengthened by the establishment of the ICC secretariat office.

8. ICC must re-express its call for funding to carry on the considerable work before all its members. Over the past year several NGOs from various parts of the globe have contributed according to their mans. Their generosity has made it possible to move forward with the plans for networking through the secretariat. But it is the responsibility of all NGOs present at this Conference, or working in their respective areas and on the issue, to assist this global effort financially. NGOs have the resources, both human and financial, to create the mechanisms necessary to unite. The United Nations system is facing major financial constraints. It is incumbent upon NGOs to devise the means for building lasting links among themselves and with the United Nations.

9. All the time, resources and dedications the United Nations Committee and Division have devoted to NGO contacts and conferences over these past four years are genuinely appreciated. The United Nations is urged to continue to develop new approaches and new systems of support for this people-to-people effort and to continue its financial commitments to the important work of the NGOs by funding meetings and special programmes. The current ICC hopes that future committees will accept the challenge of extending the contacts among MGM, of concentrating upon those global areas (such as Latin America and the European Mediterranean States) where the links to this global movement are weak. This will require expanded use of electronic communication links between regions. The possibilities in this realm are fascinating and could quickly consolidate the network.

10. ICC realizes that there are hundreds of NGOs concerned with the question of Palestine which are not in contact with it or the United Nations Division on a consistent basis. But the prospects for growth and development, even given the potential restrictions mentioned above, are bright. From this point forward, the future of ICC and the NGO movement depends less on the United Nations and more on the collective efforts of the organizations that exist to assist and inform people on the reality of the Palestinian people and the prospects for real peace in the Middle East.

11. The 1985-1986 ICC urges the new ICC to look to the declarations and recommendations adopted at this International Meeting as the blueprint for its plan of action. ICC should dedicate itself to implementing a practical programme that will strengthen the international NGO network, increase global popular understanding of the facts related to the question of Palestine and assist the Palestinian people in their quest for self-determination.

Annex VI

INTERNATIONAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE

The 1986/1987 membership of the International Co-ordinating Committee is the following:

S. K. Banerjee (All India Indo-Arab Friendship Association)

Abderrahman Youssoufi (Arab Lawyers' Union)

Jean-Marie Gaubert (Association Medicale Franco-Palestinienne)

M. El Hadji Ousmane Sarr (Association of Democratic Jurists of Senegal)

David Watkins (Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding)

Tawfiq Zayyad (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality)

Maxim Ghilan (International Jewish Peace Union)

Amnon Zichroni (Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace)

James A. Graff (Near East Cultural and Education Foundation of Canada)

Marai Abderrahman (Palestine Committee for NGOs)

Nils Butensch8n (Palestine Front of Norway)

Don Betz (Palestine Human Rights Campaign)

Hans-Peter Kotthaus (Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Co-operation)

Margaret Orr Thomas (Presbyterian Church (USA))

Serguei Peskov (Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee)

Thérèse Abdul Nour (Women's International Democratic Federation)

Ghassan Rubeiz (World Council of Churches)

Mostafa Bahig Nassar (World Peace Council)

Annex VII

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS AND OBSERVERS

Non-Governmental organizations

All India Indo-African Friendship Association

All India Indo-Arab Friendship Association

America-Israel Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union

Arab Lawyer's Union

Arab Palestine Association of Canada

Association belgo-palestinienne

Association Médicale Franco-Palestinienne

Association des avocats sénégalais

Association of Democratic Jurists of Senegal

Association of International Studies

Canadian Arab Federation

Centre de coopération avec l'université de bir zeit

Centre internationale d'information sur les prisonniers déportés et disparus palestiniens et libanais

Christian Peace Conference

Church of Humanism

Comitato di solidarieta con il popolo palestinese

Comité catholique contre la faim et pour le développement

Committee for Defence of Arab Land

Committee for Medical and Social Relief for Palestinians

Committee for Youth Organizations of USSR

Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding

Democratic Front for Peace and Equality

Dutch Palestine Committee

Ecumenical Service Aid (CIMADE)

Finnish-Arab Friendship Society

Friends World Committee for Consultation

Institute of Middle East studies

International Association of Democratic Lawyers

International Committee for Palestinian Human Rights

International Institute of Humanitarian Law

International Jewish Peace Union

International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples

International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (EAFORD)

International Progress Organization (IPO)

International Union of Students

International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN)

Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

Joint Organization for Palestine in Norway

Le régroupement pour un dialogue israel-palestine

London Friends of Palestine

International palestiniens et libanais

Middle East Fellowship of Southern California

NAJDA: Women Concerned about the Middle East

November 29th Committee for Palestine

National Union of Arab Students in Israel

Near East Cultural and Education Foundation of Canada

Palestine Committee for NGO's

Palestine Front of Norway

Palestine Groups of Sweden

Palestine Human Rights Campaign

Parliamentary Association for Duro/Arab Cooperation

Pax Christi – International Catholic Peace Movement

Perspectives Judeo – Arabes

Polish Committee for Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Progressive Movement for Peace

Solidarity Committee of the German Democratic Republic

Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee

Soviet Women's Committee

Umm El-Fahem Cultural Centre

Women's International Democratic Federation

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

World Council of Churches

World Federation of Trade Unions

World Peace Council

World Student Christian Federation

World Young Women's Christian Association (WYWCA)

NGO observers

Austrian Institute for International Affairs

Committee for Israeli- Palestinian Dialogue founded by Israelis of Oriental Origin

Committee for the Palestinian and Jewish Studies

Co-ordinating Board of Jewish Organizations

Friends of the Arab Community Hospital

General Council of Trade Unions of Japan (SOHYO)

International Association of Political Scientists for the United Nations

Japanese Committee for the Palestinian Children

Japan Palestine Medical Association

Jerusalem & Peace Centre

Occupied Palestine (JAPAN)

Organization of Jurists

Oriental Front

Terre des hommes France

Panelists

Mr. Shafiq Al-Hout (Palestinian)

Mr. Uri Avnery (Israel)

Mr. Ibrahim matar (East Jerusalem)

Mr. Pete McCloskey (USA)

Mr. Eugene Gus Newport (USA)

Mr. El Hadji Ousmane Sarr (Senegal)

Mr. Tawfiq Toubi (Israel)

H.E. Dr. Vladimir Vinogradov (Russian Rederative Socialist Republilc)

Mr. David Watkins (English)

Members and observers of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

H.E. Mr. George A. Agius, Permanent Representative of the Mission of Malta to the United Nations, Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and leader of the delegation

Mr. Zehdi L. Terzi, Palestine Liberation Organization

States Members of the United Nations represented by observers

Philippines

Spain

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

United Nations bodies

United Nations Council for Namibia

Intergovernmental organizations

League of Arab States

National liberation movements

Palestine Liberation Organization

* *** *