Arab Inter-parliamentary Union

The 41st Extraordinary Session of the Arab Parliamentary Union Council
Cairo, 6 April, 2002

In view of these serious developments, the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) decided to held an extraordinary Session of its council to discuss the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The 41st Extraordinary Session was held in Cairo on April 6th and adopted the following Resolution:

Resolution Issued in the 41.st Extraordinary Session of the Arab Parliamentary Union Council
(Cairo: 6th of April [Nissan] - 2002)

The Arab Parliamentary Union Council,

- In following with great concern and strongly disapproving of the comprehensive atrocious annihilation war launched by the unjust Israeli Occupation Forces since the 29th of March against the Palestinian Arab people, using tanks, planes and thousands of soldiers armed with most updated weapons, in order to reoccupy the Palestinian cities, one after the other: Ramallah, Al Bira, Qulalkila, Bethlehem, Tolokaram, Bait Gala, Salfit and Toubas, and to besiege Nablus, Ganin, Gaza, Jalilee and other Palestinian cities and towns, in preparation for overwhelming them, imposing a curfew, carrying raiding campaigns, arresting armless Palestinian citizens, executing hundreds of armless Palestinian combatants and civilians, executing tens of people, injuring hundreds of Palestinian warriors and armless civilians from children, women and elderly men, continuing to demolish Palestinian establishments and the infrastructure, cutting off water and electricity from residential areas, stopping ambulance cars from saving injured people and carrying them to hospitals occupied by tyrant forces, besieging houses of prayer, burning Omar Mosque, encircling Al Mahd Church, prohibiting families from burying their martyrs, encircling the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, invading the offices of the Palestinian National Authority, isolating President Yaser Arafat completely from the outside world and threatening his life;

- In considering the escalation of this criminal war that came shortly after the declaration of the Arab Peace Initiative as a provocative insolent response to this initiative, a blatant challenge to the Arab Nation, a resolution to proceed forth with violating human rights and basic freedoms in Arab territories, a scorn to all powers of freedom and peace all over the world, an expression of political incompetence before the government of Sharon the Murderer, a desperate attempt to evade a just and comprehensive peace and to disavow international commitments, and a disgraceful attempt to pull Arabs into situations that alienate them from mobilizing international powers and efforts to their side; In indicating that this atrocious war launched by Israel and taking the form of a comprehensive open war that is not confined to any geographic limits - as stated by the Israeli Minister of War - is once more emphasizing that Israel does not possess except one policy and one strategy, that of war and aggression, and that what it does in occupied Palestine is part of a comprehensive aggressive plot that aims at imposing surrender on the Palestinian Arab people and threatening the neighboring Arab States, particularly Syria and Lebanon;

In explaining that the escalation of the intifadah and the Palestinian resistance, as well as strikes directed by the intifadah heroes and resistance against Israeli Occupation Forces and the failure of the Israeli government to provide security for its people by refusing to achieve a comprehensive and just peace, or by forcing the Palestinian Arab people and its leadership to surrender, have created a serious dilemma to the government of Sharon at the internal level. Furthermore, the prominent political success registered by the Arab Beirut Summit in submitting a peace initiative that met a rare Arab, Islamic and international consensus has isolated this government the more at both regional and international levels, as a result of the profound dilemma it has put itself into. Sharon can only now save himself by creating new military existence on the territories, in order to save face and maintain the occupation;

(1) The Council affirms all resolutions issued by councils and previous conferences of the Union, concerning the Palestinian issue, particularly resolutions issued by the 9th Conference and 35th Extraordinary Session of the Union Council in New York (September [Ayloul] 2000), 37th Session in Abu Dhabi (February [Shabat] 2001), 39th Extraordinary Session in Sanaa (July [Tammouz] 2001) and resolutions of the recent 10th Conference of the Union in Khartoum (February [Shabat] 2002), and calls for their implementation;

(2) The Council extends a token of appreciation to the bravery of the Palestinian people and heroic intifadah, praying in compassion for the innocent martyrs of the intifadah, and expressing its full endorsement and total support of the combat of the Palestinian people and their choice to proceed forth with the resistance of the occupation and the confrontation of terrorism and Israeli coercion and aggression, in defense of their legitimate rights, including the right of refugees to restore their homeland, be compensated and establish an independent Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital. This should be on Palestinian soil, with Palestinian sovereignty over the Aqsa Mosque, according to resolutions of the UN General Assembly and Security Council, particularly Resolutions (181), (194), (242), (338) & (478) and resolutions of the International Parliamentary Union related to the Palestinian issue in Its conferences held in Seoul (April [Nissan] 1997), Amman (April [Nissan] 2000), Jakarta (October [Tishrine Awal] 2000) and Wagadougou (September [Ayloul] 2001).
The Council hails Combatant Brother Yaser Arafat in his siege, as a support and encouragement to him and his people, wishing him victory;

(3) The Council strongly condemns the comprehensive annihilation war and crimes of assault on humanity carried out by Zionist Occupation Forces, represented in re-occupying Palestinian cities, killing, demolishing, executing armless innocent combatants, defiling sacred places, arresting Palestinians, besieging the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority and isolating the Head of the Palestinian National Authority;

(4) The Council urges the UN and the International Community, as well as all governments of the world, to overtly condemn this atrocious war and adopt the necessary procedures for stopping it immediately and protecting the Palestinian people;

(5) The Council condemns the absolute American bias to Israel and the unilateral American interpretations of the reality existing in the Middle East, especially ignoring the fact that Israel is occupying Palestine. This has led to the displacement and killing of Palestinian civilians, including children, women and elderly men, as well as the demolishing of houses and infrastructure, and is the main reason for the conflict in the region. The Council also disapproves strongly of the attempts of the American Administration to divert its war against terrorism away from its goals towards serving the Israeli occupation and the terrorism of the Israeli State exercised within the occupied Palestinian territories. It is intentionally mixing up between terrorism and the legitimate right of people to resist occupation in all possible ways. The Council also disapproves its considering resistance organizations as part of terrorist organizations, while following the policy of selectivity and double criteria in implementing UN resolutions. The Council also condemns recent declarations of the American Administration, concerning the situation in occupied Palestine, where both victim and executor are treated alike;

(6) The Council invites Arab governments and organizations to offer all forms of support, whether physical or moral, to the brave Palestinian people. All its needs from basic requirements, such as food, medication and money should be made available. All the possible methods should be adopted to deliver these items to the official Palestinian authorities and organizations in charge of running the life of Palestinian people under siege and occupation;

(7) The Council asserts that any settlement of the Arab/Israeli conflict should include the full and unconditional withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab territories in Palestine and Golan, as well as the rest of the occupied territories, south of Lebanon. The Palestinian people should be able to exercise their inalienable rights, including the return and compensation of Palestinian refugees and their right to self-determination and establishing a Palestinian State on their soil, with Jerusalem as its capital, according to International Resolutions (242), (338) & (425) as well as Resolution (194) of the UN General Assembly. The Council calls for the implementation of Resolutions (1402) & (1403) of the Security Council, which call for immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied Palestinian cities;

(8) The Council urges the International Community, particularly the UN, USA, Russia and EU, to move immediately and send international forces to occupied Palestine, in order to deter Israel and stop it from its barbarous war against the Palestinian Arab people, while protecting them from the Israeli aggression that has pushed the region to the verge of a great explosion, whose consequences are unforeseen; (9) The Council welcomes the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by HRH Prince Abdullah Ben Abdel Aziz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, which was adopted by the Arab Summit Conference in Beirut at the end of last March. The Council announces its full endorsement of this initiative and calls upon Arab States to work diligently at all levels towards winning the international endorsement of this initiative that totally complies with the international legitimate resolutions related to the Middle East conflict;

(10) The Council affirms the necessity to work hard on activating Arab solidarity as a basic and indispensable means of consolidating the capacities of Arab States, and as the sole means of unifying their potentials and protecting their internal stability, while establishing their international stance;

(11) The Council calls upon Arab governments to suspend all normalization steps with Israel, and stop all transactions with it. Any kind of contact should cease. Diplomatic procedures with all countries of the world and international Organizations should be adopted to condemn Israel and exercise international pressure on it. They should abide by boycotting Israel, in order that it may stop its barbaric war against the Palestinian Arab people and withdraw from the occupied Arab territories, while declaring its abidance by international legitimate resolutions;

(12) The Council condemns threats made by Israel against Syria and Lebanon, asserting its solidarity with them in retrieving their occupied territories in Golan up till the fourth line from June [Hazyran] 1967 and Shab'a farms in Lebanon, considering any assault on them an assault on the entire Arab Nation;

(13) The Council urges Arab governments to open the way before Arab organizations to support the brave Palestinian intifadah and launch their initiatives, in order to contribute to providing all forms of physical and moral support to this intifadah;

(14) The Council appreciates the initial stance expressed by several European States, as well as brave stances of several European organizations and Personalities, who have disapproved in demonstrations and statements of the atrocious war launched by Israel against the Palestinian - Arab people. It also calls upon consolidating and activating this European solidarity to convert it into a tangible European action and pressure, both popular and governmental, on the Israeli government, in order that it may stop its atrocious war against the Palestinian Arab people.

(15) The Council calls upon pursuing Arab endeavors to set up an international unbiased investigations committee within the framework of the UN. This committee is to submit its report to the Security Council. The Human Rights Committee is to convene in an extraordinary session to discuss the Israeli violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and the massacres committed and still being committed by the Israeli Occupation Forces against the rights of the Palestinian people. It should urge the Security Council to issue a resolution within the framework of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, imposing on Israel a specific commitment to withdraw from the occupied Arab territories and to start immediately peace negotiations;

(16) The Council calls upon the Presidency of the Arab Parliamentary Union to promptly implement the Resolution of the recent 10th Conference of the Union (Khartoum - February [Shabat] 2000), which calls for sending Arab parliamentary delegations to some capitals of the world, in order to explain the true situation in the Middle East and the danger of the war launched by Israel against the Palestinian Arab people in jeopardizing security and peace within the region and the world.

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