Mideast situation/Palestine question – AU Executive Council decision – Non-UN document

THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

Third Ordinary Session

4 – 8 July 2003

Maputo

Mozambique

DECISIONS

DECISION ON THE REPORT ON THE DEVELOPMENTS

IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND PALESTINE

Doc. EX/CL/47 (III)

The Executive Council:

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report;

2. RECALLS all the relevant resolutions adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers on the Question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East, which affirms that the Question of Palestine is the core issue of the Middle East Conflict, and that no comprehensive just and lasting peace can be established unless Israel fully withdraws from all occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shabaa farms and unless the Palestinians exercise their inalienable national rights in accordance with UN Resolutions, in particular: Security Council Resolutions 242, 252, 338, 465, 478, 1397, 1402, 1403, and General Assembly Resolutions 181 of 1947, 194 of 1948, and on the basis of land – for peace formula;

3. EXPRESSES its full solidarity and support with the Palestinian people in their just and legitimate struggle, under the leadership of the PLO, their sole and legitimate representative, to exercise their inalienable rights including their right to return, self-determination and the establishment of their independent State on their national soil;

4. EMPHASIZES that the main danger to the realization of the national rights of the Palestinian people and the achievement of peaceful solution is the settler colonialism that has been carried out in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem since 1967, through land confiscation, settlement building and the transfer of Israeli nationals to the occupied territories. STRESSES that this policy of settler colonialism, with all the measures that is entailed must be immediately stopped and reversed;

5. UNDERSCORES the legal obligations of the States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as Additional Protocol 1 to ensure respect of the two instruments in all circumstances. STRESSES the need for the effective enforcement of the two instruments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. In this regard, they called for concrete measures and actions against products from the illegal Israeli settlements and settler violators as well as other actions on national, regional and international levels to ensure enforcement. AFFIRMS the importance of and CALLS for the application of legal remedies without impunity to war crimes committed by the occupying power in the occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. In this regard, NOTES the role of the International Criminal Court;

6*. REITERATES ITS COMMITMENT to the achievement of a peaceful solution to the Palestinian Israeli conflict. REAFFIRMS its support for the rights of the Palestinian people to national independence and the exercise of sovereignty in their State, Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, WELCOMES, in this regard, the universally supported vision of two States, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in secure and recognized boundaries and URGES the two sides to implement the “ROAD MAP” in the Middle East without any delay, or alteration.

7. UNDERLINES the necessity for an internationally promoted solution and EXPRESSES the determination to exert efforts in that direction. ALSO EXPRESSES support for the necessary international presence in the occupied Palestinian territories to provide protection for the Palestinian civilian population and to help the parties implement agreements reached. EMPHASIZES the unique role of the United Nations Security Council with regard to the above, and CALLS UPON the Council to fulfill its duties and responsibilities towards the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. REITERATES that Israeli representation in the work of the General Assembly and international conferences must be in conformity with International Law and CALLS for ensuring that Israeli credentials do not cover the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including East Jerusalem.

8. EXPRESSES REGRET at the absence of President Yasser Arafat due to the continued obstruction of his freedom of movement by Israel, the occupying Power. They condemned Israeli policies and measures in this regard and expressed their solidarity with President Arafat as the elected leader and the symbol of the struggle of the Palestinian people;

9. REAFFIRMS FURTHER its decision to set up a committee of 10 Members, in accordance with its Decision AHG/Dec. 182 (XXXVIII), adopted in July 2002, in Durban, South Africa, by the 38th Assembly of Heads of State and Government;

10. REAFFIRMS its determination to follow up the implementation of this decision and to report to the coming meetings of the African Union.

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*Reservation by Libya on the “ROAD MAP”