Prospects for an international Middle East peace conference
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 5911, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur : Mr Fourré. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 30 June 1988.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its many declarations underlining the need for an international conference (the most recent being
Resolution 877 (1987) on Egypt's role in the Middle East today), associated with the repeated assertion of :
the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territories by force ;
its recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination ;
Israel's right to existence within secure and recognised frontiers, as stipulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 ;
2. Recalling that the chairmen of the political groups spoke out severely on the situation in the occupied territories during the current affairs debate held by the Assembly on 5 May 1988 in the presence of parliamentary observers from Israel and a delegation of Arab ambassadors to the European institutions ;
3. Considering that it would be improper to postpone any new international initiative under the pretext of forthcoming elections while military repression is steadily adding to the number of victims, Palestinian men, women and children, of whom there have been over two hundred since the beginning, in December 1987, of a popular uprising provoked by the absence of any prospect of a solution to an intolerable situation ;
4. Noting the failure of bilateral efforts to facilitate a negotiated solution, and recalling the letter addressed jointly by President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to President Carter on 26 March 1979 in the context of the Camp David accords, pledging that their countries ‘‘would proceed with the implementation of those provisions (of the framework agreement signed on 17 September 1978) relating to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip'', with a view to starting negotiations ‘‘within a month after the exchange of the instruments of ratification'' ;
5. Welcoming the efforts of the American Administration, particularly those of the tireless Secretary of State, Mr Shultz, who, returning from the Moscow Summit, paid renewed visits to Amman, Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem ;
6. Trusting, however, that these efforts will take the representatives of the Palestinian people as well as international and, in particular, European declarations into account ;
7. Noting that the European Parliament adopted on 19 May 1988 a resolution calling on ‘‘the Foreign Ministers in European Political Co-operation to take effective measures at Community level'',
8. Decides to do its utmost to make the voice of Europe heard, particularly through the member governments of the Council of Europe represented in the United Nations Security Council, and to take full advantage of its parliamentary relations with the Knesset and the United States Congress, but also more recently with the Supreme Soviet, and of its contacts with Arab states and organisations, to try to overcome existing reservations and help create the climate of confidence necessary for the earliest possible opening of talks aimed at convening the international conference which has become indispensable if the inhabitants of the Middle East and neighbouring regions wish to avert disaster ;
9. Decides on the principle of a fact-finding visit by the contact group to the region (Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria) with meetings with political leaders, including Palestinians, with a view to preparing a parliamentary conference in Strasbourg for early 1989 with the countries participating in a possible Middle East peace conference.
