DECLARATION ON PALESTINE
1. We, the Ministers and Heads of Delegation representing members of the Committee of AI Quds, Committee of Six on Palestine, Troika of the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference and Troika of the 30th Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) gathered in Putrajaya, Malaysia on 2 Rabiulawal1425 H (22 April 2004) for the Special Meeting on the Middle East.
2.We fully applaud the inspiring and thought provoking Address by the Honourable Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia in his capacity as Chairman of the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference during the Opening Ceremony.
3. We express our unequivocal support to the Palestinian people and their legitimate national authority under the leadership of President Yasser Arafat, in their resistance to Israeli aggression. In this connection, we demand an immediate end to the blockade imposed against them and their leadership so as to ensure their right to freedom of movement within and outside Palestine.
4. We emphasize our unwavering political, material and moral support and backing to the Palestinian people and their rights of resistance as well as their struggle to put an end to the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 and in order to empower the Palestinian people to regain their inalienable rights, including their right of return, and right to self determination.
5. We also reaffirm. the need to establish an independent Palestinian State with AI-Quds Sharif as its capital, and the need to implement all the international resolutions pertaining to Palestine and the Middle East, particularly UNSC resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), UN General Assembly resolution 194 on the Return of Palestinian Refugees, and UNSC resolutions on the cause of AI-Quds, namely Resolutions 252 (1968), 267 (1969), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1073 (1996), 1397 (2002) and 1515 (2003), as well as the Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map.
6. We reaffirm our commitment to the peace process in the Middle East on the basis of full implementation of the Road Map and the Arab Peace Initiative.
7. We strongly reject the recent unilateral Israeli plan as it breaches the resolutions of international legitimacy and contradicts the provisions stipulated in the Road Map.
8. We emphasize that the plan and the support of the United States thereto are detrimental to the peace process in the Middle East as they are denying the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, particularly with regard to the final settlement issues and call upon the US government to review its recent position which is counter productive to the objectives of the Road Map. We also affirm that no party has the right to make any concession to Israel on the Palestinian national rights or to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people and their legitimate and democratically elected leadership on these issues.
9. We call on the Quartet to intensify its efforts towards achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative, the Road Map and relevant agreements and resolutions and reject any unilateral measures that are not in line with these.
10. We urge the Security Council to consider the deployment of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force or an international monitoring mechanism to monitor the implementation of the Road Map for peace in the Middle East.
11. We call on the United Nations and the international community to demand Israel to stop and reverse the construction of the Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including in and around East Jerusalem, which is in departure of the Armistice Line of 1949 and in contradiction to relevant provisions of international law (OP1 of AIRES/ES-10/13). remove the completed parts of the Wall, halt the Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian territories and implement the relevant United Nations resolutions, particularly Security Council Resolution 465 (1980) which affirmed the illegitimacy of such settlements and the need to dismantle existing settlements.
12. We urge the Security Council to assume its responsibility in the maintenance of international peace and security, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, by demanding that Israel cease without any further delay its policy and practice of state terrorism which have killed and continue to kill civilians through extrajudicial executions and targeted killings; collective punishments; ceaseless invasions and reoccupation of Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps; demolition of Palestinian National Authority physical and institutional infrastructures; and the strangulation of the Palestinian national economy. We condemn the assassination of the Palestinian leaders as a clear example of state terrorism and in contravention with the basic principles of international law. We emphasize the need to implement adequate measures to provide the necessary international protection for the Palestinian people and for the Christian and Muslim sacred places of worship and religious significance as well as to work towards securing the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including juveniles, from Israeli prisons and detention centers.
13. We are convinced of the need for all member states of the OIC to take practical measures without any further delay to implement all relevant OIC resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to move the Middle East peace process forward as well as an expression of unflinching support and solidarity with the Palestinian leadership and people.
14. We agree to establish a Ministerial Delegation to make immediate contacts with the members of the Quartet, members of the United Nations Security Council, and other organizations deemed appropriate with the aim of explaining to them the position of the OIC on these grave developments as well as to engage them on issues relating to the peace process. The Ministerial Delegation should also urge these parties to mobilize and intensify their efforts to put an end to the Israeli aggression and repressive policies and practices against the Palestinian leadership and people, and to work towards the full implementation of the relevant United Nations resolutions, Arab Peace Initiative, Road Map and other agreements to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
15. We call on civil societies, relevant non-governmental organizations as well as peace movements the world over to express their support to the plight of the Palestinian people through peaceful means.
Putrajaya, Malaysia
2 Rabiulawal1425 H (22 April 2004)
Document Sources: Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)
Subject: Jerusalem
Publication Date: 22/04/2004