CM/Res. 632 (XXXI)
RESOLUTION
ON THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE
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 studied the OAU Administrative Secretary-General’s report on the developments of the Palestinian issue (doc CM/881(XXXI);
Having heard the Statements made by various delegations and in particular the Statement made by Representative of the PLO,
Recalling the resolutions adopted at previous sessions of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers on the Middle East and the Palestinian issue;
Recalling also the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the exercising by the Palestinian people of their inalienable rights, which reaffirms the Palestinian people’s legitimate and inalienable right to their homeland including their rights to return to self-determination, to sovereignty, and to the establishment of their independent State on their territory,
Guided by the principles and objectives of the OAU and UN Charters, the common destiny of the African and Arab Peoples and their continuous joint struggle against zionism and racism for the sake of freedom, independence and peace,
Recalling that the Palestinian issue is the core of the Middle East conflict and that the PLO is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,
Taking cognizance of the statements made on the Palestinian issue and the critical situation currently prevailing as a result of the perpetuation of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Arab territories and of Israel’s denial of the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, as well as Israel’s refusal to abide by the UN General Assembly r esolutions,
Aware of the fact that the Palestinian issue is an Arab and African one,
Reaffirming the legitimate character of the struggle being waged by the Palestinian people under the leadership of the PLO, with a view to recovering their national rights; reaffirming as well that it is impossible to achieve a just and durable peace without the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories and its recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,
Noting that the alliance between the zionist regime in Israel, and the racist regime in Rhodesia and South Africa aim at the pursuit of a policy of terrorism and liquidation of the Palestinian and Arab peoples in the occupied Arab territories, of the African peoples in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, and that Israel and the racist regimes resort to the same means,
Denouncing the repeated Israeli acts of aggression against the Palestinian people, both inside and outside occupied Palestine, as evidenced by the daily acts of repression and terrorism as well as the establishment of settlements and the alteration of geographical demographic and cultural features, which constitute an overt and glaring violation of the Fourteenth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in times of war. These acts of aggression have reached their climax when Israel invaded South Lebanon, thus confirming its aggressive and expansionist nature:
REAFFIRMS all the resolutions previously adopted by the Council, as well as its total and effective support to the Palestinian people under the leadership of the PLO, their sole legitimate representative, as well as their right to return to their homeland, the sovereignty to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent state;
REAFFIRMS its support to the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle, by all available means, including armed combat, for the sake of recovering their usurped rights:
VIGOROUSLY DENOUNCES the aggressive Israeli schemes and ambitions as well as Israel’s policy of expansion aimed at the Palestinian people, which reached its climax in the occupation of South Lebanon last March;
CONDEMNS once again, the unholy alliance between the zionist regime in Israel and the racist regimes in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and imperialism; urges all Member States to face the dangers of this alliance aimed at the Arab and
African peoples, while affirming that the most efficient means of facing racists, zionists and imperialists, is armed struggle;
CALLS ON the international community to further isolate Israel at diplomatic, economic, political and military levels, in implementation of the UN Charter;
REQUESTS the States that have as yet not explicitly recognized the rights of the Palestinian people, which have been sanctioned by international Charters and resolutions, and in particular the United States in America, to confirm these rights and to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people;
CONCURS with the recommendations of the UN Committee entrusted with the exercising by the Palestinian people of their legitimate and inalienable rights, particularly their rights to return to their homeland, to self-determination and to the establishment of their independent state;
REQUESTS further that the Secretary Council reconsiders its attitude as regards the recommendations of that Committee, since they henceforth constitute the will of the International Community, as they have been adopted by the UN General Assembly at its Thirty-First Session;
REQUESTS the Administrative Secretary-General to follow the developments of the Palestinian issue and to report back to the Council of Ministers at its next Ordinary Session.