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Tenth Arab Summit: Final Statement

Tenth Arab Summit

Final Statement

(Excerpts)

Tunis, 20-22 November 1979

…

The Arab Kings, Presidents and Emirs, while reaffirming their condemnation of the Camp David agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and their categorical rejection of them and of all their consequences, affirm that any solution must be a comprehensive one based on the liberation of all the Palestinian and Arab occupied territories and the recovery of the full rights of the Palestinian people, and in particular their right to return to their homeland, to self-determination and to establish their independent state on the soil of their homeland. They also affirm their support for the struggle of the Palestinian Arab people under the leadership of the PLO, their sole legitimate representative. The conference salutes the steadfastness of our people in the occupied Palestinian territories and their valiant resistance to the most odious forms of racist occupation and to the policy of Judaization, deportation, settlement and violation of their heritage and holy places, and calls for greater cohesion, for the escalation of the struggle to confront the conspiracy of self-government, and the expansion of the sphere of international solidarity with this struggle, with a view to frustrating the schemes of the Zionist occupation.

The conference expressed its appreciation of the role played by the coun­tries and forces in confrontation with the Zionist enemy, in particular Syria, Jordan and the PLO, and of their resistance to all forms of aggression and Zionist arrogance. The conference stressed the importance of strengthening the resources and capabilities of the confrontation countries and their forces at all levels, with a view to achieving a strategic balance with the Zionist enemy.

The conference records its appreciation of the positive results achieved through the implementation of the resolutions of the ninth Arab summit conference in Baghdad, their effects on the international situation and the relative improvement in the positions of various countries to the Palestine question and the liberation of the occupied Arab territories. It also records its appreciation of the condemnation of the Camp David agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty by the Islamic Foreign Ministers Conference held in Fez in May 1979, the sixteenth African summit conference held in Monrovia in 1979, and the sixth summit conference of the non-aligned nations held in Havana in September of the same year, and of the extensive polarization achieved by Arab moves at the current session of the UN General Assembly.

The conference observes with satisfaction the increasing isolation of Israel at the international level, the contraction of its international relations and the growing awareness on the part of world public opinion of the justice of the cause of Palestine and all the occupied Arab territories. The conference warns against all attempts by certain countries to resume relations with the Zionist enemy or to recognize Jerusalem as its capital, and declares that the Arab countries will take the necessary measures to protect Arab rights.

In continuation of the course initiated by the ninth Arab summit conference, the conference affirms its determination to continue efforts and consultations with a view to achieving and consolidating the goals of joint Arab action and to promoting this action to an advanced stage of solidarity; continued efforts will also be made to build up intrinsic Arab strength and to employ it in the service of national interests and to ensure that the positions of the other parties draw closer to Arab positions by employing all means, including economic relations with the other countries.

The conference calls for the strengthening of relations and cooperation with the Islamic and African countries and the non-aligned countries in general. It also calls for support for the African liberation movements against racism and racial discrimination, and for the African confrontation countries, and for cooperation with the European countries with a view to the promotion of Arab-European common interests and for the development of the positions of the European community on the basis of no separation in cooperation between economic relations and the positions of the member states of the Community's political stands on the just cause of the Arabs and its central link, the question of Palestine. It calls for efforts to develop Arab relations with the Latin American countries in all fields, in the service of common interests and our national cause, and for continued efforts to win further support by the socialist countries for Arab rights and to ensure that they increase their support for these rights so as to increase the Arabs’ ability to hold out.

The conference decided to form delegations of ministers of the Arab countries to visit foreign countries in all parts of the world to explain the bases of peace outlined by the Baghdad summit and to win support for the Arab position and for Arab rights.

The conference condemns the policy of the US as regards its role in the signing of the Camp David agreements and the Egyptian-Israeli treaty, and affirms that the continued pursuit of this policy will have negative repercussions on relations and joint interests between the Arab countries and the US.

The conference condemned the moves and hostile schemes of the US directed against the Arab nation, which conflict with the interests of the Arab nation, the sovereignty of the countries of the area and their right to control their resources in the interests of their peoples and of all the developing countries.

The conference also affirmed the solidarity of all peoples of the area in their confrontation of these schemes and moves which constitute a danger to world peace and security, and calls for concentrated efforts to be made in the field of American public opinion to explain the cause of Palestine and the Zionist aggression and to make clear the harm done both to the American and the Arab citizen by the hostile policy that is being pursued by the US in the area, especially since the conclusion of the Camp David agreement, but for which policy the Israeli enemy could not have been able to go so far in his aggression against Lebanon and his designs against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples.

The conference condemns Israel's aggression against South Lebanon in all its forms, which aggression it holds responsible for the sufferings of the inhabitants of the South, and affirms its rejection of Israeli hegemony aimed at interfering in Lebanon's affairs by all sorts of false pretexts.

The conference affirmed Lebanon's sovereignty over all her territory, and its wish that her independence and national unity may be maintained. It also stressed the need for the sovereignty of the Lebanese state to be extended over all Lebanese soil, and also the need for the implementation of the Riyadh, Cairo and Beiteddine resolutions and for the taking of the necessary measures to that effect.

The conference supports the efforts of the Lebanese government and the PLO to achieve coordination and cooperation in dealing with all problems, and resolves to support the efforts of the Lebanese people, with special importance being given to the situation in the South. It also resolves to support the Lebanese government in all international fields, so that the greatest possible pressure may be exerted on the Israeli enemy to halt his aggression against South Lebanon and to achieve Israel's withdrawal from the area.

 

Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. ix, no 2, Winter 1980.