DECISION ON DEVELOPMENTS IN
THE MIDDLE EAST AND PALESTINE
The Assembly
1. TAKES NOTE of the Report;
2. RECALLS UN General Assembly resolutions on the Middle East and Palestine, in particular resolutions 181 and 194 and Security Council Resolutions 242, 252, 338, 465, 478, 1397, 1402 and 1403 and CALLS for the implementation of these resolutions;
3. FURTHER RECALLS all relevant resolutions of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers on the Middle East, which affirm that the Question of Palestine is at the core 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 Arab territories, including East Jerusalem, the Syrian Golan Heights, the Lebanese territory to the borders of 4th June 1967;
4. REAFFIRMS its solidarity and support for the just and
legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole and legitimate representative, to exercise their inalienable national rights, including their right to return to their homes, recover their property, self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on their national soil, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the principles of international law and other pertinent resolutions of the UN;
5. EXPRESSES full solidarity with and support for the elected
President of the Palestinian National Authority, the Leader of the Palestinian People, H.E. Yasser Arafat, and DEMANDS the immediate end of the Israeli brutal military siege imposed on President Arafat in Ramallah and CALLS for international efforts and assistance to rebuild the Palestinian institutions destroyed by the Israeli occupation army;
6. FURTHER CONDEMNS the repeated military incursions and reoccupation of areas under Palestinian control, the marginalization of the Palestinian National Authority, the wave of killings and assassinations, the policy of collective punishment and premeditated destruction of the Palestinian economy, infrastructures, official and public institutions, including the Presidential buildings in Gaza and Ramallah, and the suffocating blockage against the Palestinian people, all of which, will only jeopardize the prospects of peace in the region; also condemns the policy of Israel to desecrate Christian and Moslem places of worship in the occupied Palestinian territory and demands that Israel respect the sanctity of these religious institutions and Israel’s commitment to the principles of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory.
7. ALSO CONDEMNS the policy of destruction and demolition
of homes carried out by the Israeli forces in the Palestinian refugee camps, villages and towns as well as the refusal of the Israeli Government to allow the UN Fact-Finding Mission charged with establishing the facts about alleged crimes and atrocities committed in the Jenin refugee camp, Nablus and other places. Also condemns the policy of Israel to forbid the entry and provision of medical and food supplies to the refugee camps, villages and towns in the occupied Palestinian territory;
8. TAKES NOTE WITH APPRECIATION of the initiative of the
Saudi Crown Prince, adopted by the Arab League Summit in Beirut, Lebanon, which provides a historic opportunity and basis for a global, lasting and comprehensive settlement of the conflict in the Middle East, and CALLS UPON the parties and the International Community to support the initiative;
9. CALLS for the implementation of the Declaration adopted by the reconvened Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention on 5 December 2001 and CALLS for concrete action on the national, regional and international levels to ensure respect by the occupying power of the provisions of the Convention;
10. HAILS the efforts deployed by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and URGES it to continue to pursue its initiatives with all the parties concerned;
11. WELCOMES the recent resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council on Development in the Middle East and Palestine, especially Resolution 1397 (2002) of 12 March 2002 which inter alia reaffirms a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders;
12. EXPRESSES CONCERN over the stalled peace process attributed to the lack of commitment of the Israeli Government in pursuing the negotiations that will ensure a just and comprehensive peace and guarantee security and stability for all the peoples of the region and REITERATES ITS CALL for the resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine on the one hand, and between Israel and Syria and Lebanon on the other, on the basis of Resolutions 242, 338, 425 and tenets of the peace process established at the Madrid Conference as well as the full implementation of all other agreements and commitments undertaken on all tracks of the peace process in the region;
13. ALSO EXPRESSES ITS SUPPORT for all peace initiatives aimed at achieving just, lasting and comprehensive peace, including the recommendations of the Mitchell Report and the Tenet Work Plan on security intended to ensure the stoppage of the cycle of violence and facilitate the resumption of the peace negotiations as well as the initiatives of the US Secretary of State, Mr. Colin Powell, and the “Quartet” amongst other things, the immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a ceasefire regime and URGES the sponsors and the international community at large, to revive the peace process and guarantee its success and for the parties concerned, to honour their commitments in order to create the necessary conditions for the establishment of a ceasefire regime that will usher in lasting peace and security in the region;
14. WELCOMES the proposals of the Secretary General of the United Nations on the establishment of a robust and credible multinational force under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN. CALLS on the members of the Security Council to quickly consider the proposal of the Secretary General and to take the necessary measures in this regard since the presence of such a Force in Palestine could make an important, positive contribution towards the rapid achievement of a final settlement between Palestine and Israel
15. AGREES to set up a Committee of 10 Members in order to activate the peace process in the Middle East.