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Extraordinary Arab Summit, 1989: Resolution on the Palestine Question
Extraordinary Arab Summit
Resolution on the Palestine Question
Casablanca, 23-26 May 1989
The extraordinary Arab summit held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 17 to 20 Shawwal 1409 Hegira, corresponding to 23-26 May 1989,
out of its adherence to the principles and bases defined by the Arab summits‘ resolutions on the Palestine question and the Arab-Israeli conflict,
and out of the Arab states‘ concern about continuing to work by all means to achieve a just and comprehensive solution to the Middle East crisis and its crux, the Palestine question,
and after discussing the situation in the Middle East, particularly in light of the continuation of the heroic Palestinian intifada against the Israeli occupation and its insistence on carrying out the policy of repression and persecution, the establishment of settlements, and the expulsion of citizens, and its refusal to recognize the Palestinian people‘s inalienable rights –
and while expressing its great pride in the great popular intifada in the occupied Palestinian territories and its glorification of the souls of its martyrs and the martyrs of all the occupied Arab territories;
greeting the wounded heroes and the steadfast detainees in the occupation prisons;
highly appreciating the sacrifices, challenges, and steadfast spirit through which the Palestinian and Arab masses are confronting the Israeli forces of occupation and tyranny in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Syrian Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon;
and stressing the importance of supporting the intifada materially and politically and in all fields until it achieves its objectives of liberation and independence –
decides:
1. To continue to work for the sake of achieving the objectives approved by the previous Arab summits‘ resolutions, particularly:
a) The achievement of the comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and Arab territories occupied since 196 7, foremost of which is Arab Jerusalem.
b) The restoration of the national inalienable rights of the Palestinian Arab people, including their right to repatriation, self-determination, and the establishment of their independent state in Palestine.
c) The mobilization of Arab resources in all fields to achieve comprehensive strategic parity in order to confront the hostile Israeli plans and to safeguard Arab rights.
2. a) To extend material and moral support for the Palestinian intifada and the heroic and steadfast struggle of the Palestinian Arab people in occupied Palestine and for the Arab people‘s struggle in the occupied Golan Heights and in southern Lebanon.
b) To extend the aforementioned support for the valiant intifada of the Palestinian people through the PLO in its capacity as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, as follows:
• The payment of $128 million, which was approved by the Algiers summit, to be paid by the Arab states in accordance with their contributions to the Arab League budget.
• The commitment to pay $43 million a month, which was approved by the Algiers summit, to meet the needs of the intifada and to guarantee its continuation. This shall be in accordance with what would be agreed on bilaterally.
c) To call on the Arab masses to reactivate popular donations to the intifada.
3. To support the convocation of the international conference for peace in the Middle East with the participation of the UN Security Council‘s five permanent member states and all parties to the conflict, including an independent delegation of the State of Palestine, on equal footing with the objective of reaching a just and comprehensive settlement of the conflict on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 of 1967 and 338 of 1973, on all the other related UN resolutions, and the Palestinian people‘s national inalienable rights, [and the objectives] of agreeing on security guarantees for all the region‘s states including the State of Palestine, and of solving the problem of the Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948 and considering all the related UN resolutions as still providing the conditions for international legitimacy which guarantee the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state.
4. To support the resolutions of the 19th Palestine National Council session, the intifada session; to affirm support for the Palestinian peace initiative based on the Arab peace plan and on international legitimacy; and to welcome the positive international response to this initiative.
5. Any political settlement of the conflict must guarantee the comprehensive and unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian and Arab territories occupied since 1967 and the enabling of the Palestinian people to exercise their national inalienable rights in accordance with the Arab summits‘ resolutions, particularly the Fez summit resolutions.
6. To support the establishment of the independent State of Palestine on Palestinian territories, to express the summit‘s appreciation of all the friendly states that officially recognized the independent State of Palestine, to call on the remaining world states to fully recognize this state, and to entrust the member states with the task of holding the necessary contacts to urge the states that have not yet recognized the establishment of the independent State of Palestine to do so.
7. To support the Palestinian stand toward the issue of elections to the effect that these elections should take place following the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and under international supervision and within the framework of the comprehensive peace process, especially since the Israeli plan is aimed at dealing a blow to the intifada, bypassing the PLO, and circumventing the Palestinian people‘s national inalienable rights. The summit also stresses the need to adhere to ending the Israeli occupation of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories and to putting the occupied Palestinian territories under the control of the United Nations for a temporary period in order to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination.
8. To set up a higher committee chaired by His Majesty King Hassan II of Morocco to follow up moves in the international arena and to hold the necessary contacts, on behalf of the Arab League, with the UN Security Council‘s permanent member states and the UN secretary-general with the objective of reactivating the peace process and taking part in preparations for an international peace conference. The formation of this committee shall be completed through consultations with the president of the State of Palestine.
9. To call on the five Arab states – the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Syrian Arab Republic, the State of Palestine, the Republic of Lebanon, and the Arab Republic of Egypt – to intensify coordination among them and to follow up the international consultations and contacts to hold the international peace conference.
10. To firmly stand in the face of the inhuman crimes of the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, against the Syrian citizens in the occupied Golan Heights, and against the Lebanese citizens in southern Lebanon, and to call on the UN Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities toward these crimes and practices that conflict with all the rules of humanitarian conduct and all the international laws that apply to military occupation of other people‘s land, including the possibility of imposing sanctions on Israel.
11. To call on the United States to develop its stand toward the PLO and the Palestinian people‘s national rights, and to frankly recognize their right to self-determination within the framework of a comprehensive peace process in implementation of the principles and objectives of the UN Charter, the related UN resolutions, and the principles of international legitimacy.
Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. xix, no 1, Autumn 1989.