Peace prospects in the Middle East
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 22 September 1989 (12th Sitting) (see Doc. 6116, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur :Mr Fourré). Text adopted by the Assembly on 22 September 1989 (12th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its
Resolution 902 (1988) on the prospects for an international Middle East peace conference ;
2. Welcoming the organisation of a parliamentary meeting (enlarged Political Affairs Committee) in Strasbourg on 22 and 23 June 1989 attended for the first time both by official observers of the Knesset, representing the two parties which form the National Unity Government in Israel, and by a high-level delegation of the Palestine National Council ;
3. Stressing the constructive part played at the meeting by the delegations and representatives of the parliaments of Egypt, Morocco and the Soviet Union, together with those of the European Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union ;
4. Regretting, however, the absence of representatives of certain parliaments invited, including the Congress of the United States and the People's Assembly of China as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the parliaments of Jordan and Syria as countries directly concerned, while noting the written contributions transmitted by the National Assembly of Jordan and by the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress ;
5. Noting that proceedings at the Strasbourg meeting, as at all the meetings of European and international bodies since May, among them the European Council in Madrid (26-27 May 1989) and the Socialist International in Stockholm (20-22 June), paid particular attention to the Israeli Government's peace plan, while perhaps not paying sufficient attention to the question of the international conference, an initiative which should be given every possible chance ;
6. Convinced that the deep and public splits brought about within the Israeli Government are not conducive to the progress of an initiative, supported by Washington, in which free elections in the West Bank and Gaza are envisaged but have so far entailed exclusions judged unacceptable by the PLO which the Israeli plan disregards, thus earning the condemnation of the Extraordinary Arab Summit in Casablanca (23-26 May 1989) ;
7. Noting however the recent initiative of President Mubarak taking the form of a ten-point peace plan, referring to the Israeli plan, and hoping that it can contribute to ending the present impasse ;
8. Considering the importance of reaching, through a process of negotiation and in a spirit of moderation on both sides, a peaceful solution in the Middle East by finally eliminating terrorism and avoiding the provocation of all forms of military action, these being the conditions for the establishment of a climate of confidence between the parties concerned,
9. Considers that the situation in the area and the current international climate of détente admit of no further delay in convening an international conference under the auspices of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council which, through decisions in keeping with international law, including the right to self-determination and to secure and recognised frontiers, will at long last provide just and lasting political solutions to the conflicts in question, which have claimed hundreds of innocent lives ;
10. Resolves to continue and intensify its action in accordance with the operative clauses of
Resolution 902, specifically aimed at contacts and fostering mutual confidence which alone can lead to the necessary mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO, as representative of the Palestinian people acknowledged in fact if not in law by the international community, thereby initiating a process which could contribute to pacification in Lebanon as well, where an ever more violent armed conflict has been raging for fifteen years.
