CM/Res. 631 (XXXI)
RESOLUTION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDDLE EAST PROBLEM
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Thirty-First Ordinary Session in Khartoum, Democratic Republic of the Sudan, from 7 to 18 July 1978,
Having taken cognizance of the report of the Administrative Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity on the developments of the Middle East problem (Document CM/880 (XXXI) Rev. 1)) and examined its contents,
Having heard the statements made by various delegations in that respect;
Recalling the successive resolutions adopted by the previous sessions of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers on the Middle East, the occupied Arab territories and the Palestinian Problem,
Recalling also the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the exercise by the Palestinian people of their inalienable right which reaffirms the legitimate and inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people to their national homeland in Palestine and to the establishment of their independence and sovereign state,
Guided by the principles and objectives of the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations Charted, the common destiny of the African and Arab peoples and their indivisible struggle, waged with a view to realising their objectives, which are to put the banner of freedom, to consolidate peace and to confirm their right to self-determination and independence,
Noting with considerable concern, the dangerous and increasingly deteriorating situation in the region, as a result of the continued occupation by Israel of the Arab territories, of its denial of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and to the establishment of their independent state, of Israeli’s persistence in refusing to comply with the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, and of its defiance of international legitimacy and of the International Declaration on Human Rights,
Expressing its deep concern over Israel’s persistence in pursuing a policy of aggression, as reflected by its repeated and successive acts of aggression against its neighbours, and in particular, the latest aggression against Lebanon,
Reaffirming the legitimacy of the Palestinian people’s struggle under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole representative of the Palestinian people, for the full restoration of all their legitimate rights,
Aware of the fact that the Palestinian problem lies at the cores of the Middle East issue,
Noting with concern that the alliance between the Zionist regime in Israel and the racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia aim at perpetuating the policy of terrorism and extermination of Palestinians and Arabs in the occupied Arab territories and African peoples in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe and that Israel and the racist regimes are resorting to similar abhorrent maneuvers and practices:
REAFFIRMS all previous resolutions adopted by the Council in confirmation of its full and effective support of the Palestinian people under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole legitimate representative;
REAFFIRMS its full support for the Arab Front-Line States and for the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle for the restoration of their usurped rights and the recovery of their occupied territories by all ways and means;
STRONGLY CONDEMNS Israel’s hostile designs, expansionist policy and its constant refusal to establish a just, lasting and global peace in the region, its refusal to fully implement the UN resolutions in all the occupied territories, and make them bear full responsibilities for the lack of any progress towards the hopes for peace;
STRONGLY CONDEMNS once more the unholy alliance between Israel and the racist regimes in South Africa and Rhodesia, and calls upon all Member States to exercise vigilance against the menace by this alliance which seeks domination and expansion at the expense of the rights and future of peoples, and affirms that the armed struggle against the racists in South Africa and occupied Palestine is the most effective way of defeating these enemies;
STRONGLY CONDEMNS Israel’s persistence in its expansionist policy and the establishment of illegitimate Israeli Settlements in the occupied Arab territories and calls upon Israel to desist immediately from establishing such settlements and to dismantle the settlements it has established;
AFFIRMS the right of the Front-Line States and the Palestinian people to full and permanent sovereignty over their wealth and natural resources as well as all other resources in the Arab territories occupied by Israel and also affirms the right of the Front-Line States and the Palestinian People to full compensation for the depletion and exploitation of the said wealth and resources, and considers as null and void all measures taken by Israel in the occupied territories for the exploitation of resources in these occupied territories, and calls upon all countries, organizations and investment institutions to withhold recognition of and refrain from co-operation in any form with the Israeli authorities in the exploitation, in whatever form, of natural wealth and resources;
CALLS UPON the international community to bring positive and effective pressure to bear on Israel in the diplomatic, economic, political and military fields in order to force it to abide by the decisions of the international community, and to request the Security Council to consider the recommendations of the Committee dealing with the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, and take all necessary measures for their implementation, inasmuch as they have become the will of the international community, by virtue of the resolution of the General Assembly at its Thirty-First Session;
APPEALS to all the states of the world to support the Palestinian people in their struggle to recover their legitimate national rights, and recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people;
REQUESTS the Administrative Secretary-General to follow the developments of the problem and report back to the next session of the OAU Council of Ministers.