Situation in the OPT – Non-Aligned Movement communiqué/Non-UN document

Communiqué by the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement on the Situation

in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) expresses its grave concern at the deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and condemns in specific the recent aggression by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian civilian population. Intense military attacks by the Israeli occupying forces, particularly against civilian areas throughout the Gaza Strip, have resulted in the killing and injuring of dozens of Palestinians, including children, and widespread destruction of property. This excessive and indiscriminate use of force by the occupying Power against civilians constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law and threatens to completely destabilize the fragile and tense situation on the ground and worsen the already dire humanitarian conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Non-Aligned Movement demands the immediate cessation of these military attacks by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Palestinian people. Further, the NAM CoB calls upon both sides to abide by the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and to immediately extend it to the West Bank, in order to bring an end to the cycle of violence and promote calm.

NAM calls upon the Security Council, which is the organ entrusted with the maintenance of international peace and security, to assume its responsibilities to help bring an immediate cessation of this latest Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and to consider mechanisms for the maintenance of the ceasefire. In this regard, NAM urges the Security Council to seriously consider the deployment of observers to monitor respect of the ceasefire.

The Non-Aligned Movement urges all concerned parties to exert the necessary efforts to work together to stop the bloodletting and destruction and the continuing deterioration of this crisis. The cessation of this grave situation is imperative for preserving the hopes for peace that have recently arisen, in particular following the renewal of the important Arab Peace Initiative, and promoting the calm and stability needed for the pursuit of a peaceful, just and final settlement to this tragic conflict.

New York, 24 May 2007