Washington Report, December 1988, Page 6

Special Report

What They Said

Excerpts from the political resolution of the Palestine National Council, Algiers, Nov. 14, 1988.

Our people have stood fast against all the attempts of our enemy's authorities to end our revolution, and those authorities have tried everything at their disposal: they have used terrorism, they have imprisoned us, they have sent us into exile, they have desecrated our holy places and restricted our religious freedoms, they have demolished our homes, they have killed us indiscriminately, and premeditatedly, they have sent bands of armed settlers into our villages and camps, they have burned our crops, they have cut off our water and power supplies, they have beaten our women and children, they have used toxic gases that have caused many deaths and abortions, and they have waged an obscurantist war against us by closing our schools and universities....

The international community is now more prepared than ever before to strive for a political settlement of the Middle East crisis and its root cause, the question of Palestine. The Israeli occupation authorities, and the American administration that stands behind them, cannot continue to ignore the national will, which is now unanimous on the necessity of holding an international peace conference on the Middle East and enabling the Palestinian people to gain their national rights, foremost among which is their right to self-determination and national independence on their own national soil....

Toward the achievement of this, the Palestine National Council affirms:

1. The necessity of convening the effective international conference on the issue of the Middle East and its core, the question of Palestine, under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation of the permanent members of the Security Council and all parties to the conflict in the region including the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people on an equal footing, and by considering that the international conference be held on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and the safeguarding of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, foremost amongst which is the right to self-determination in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Untied Nations Charter concerning the right of peoples to self-determination, and by the inadmissibility of the acquisition of the territory of others by force or military conquest, in accordance with the United Nations resolutions on the question of Palestine.
   
   
2. The withdrawal of Israel from all the Palestinian and Arab territories it occupied in 1967, including Arab Jerusalem.
   
   
3. The annulment of all measures of annexation and appropriation and the removal of settlements established by Israel in the Palestinian and Arab territories since 1967.
   
   
4. Endeavoring to place the occupied Palestinian territories, including Arab Jerusalem, under the auspices of the United Nations for a limited period in order to protect our people and afford the appropriate atmosphere for the success of the proceeding of the international conference towards the attainment of a comprehensive political settlement and the attainment of peace and security for all on the basis of mutual acquiescence and consent, and to enable the Palestinian state to exercise its effective authority in these territories.
   
   
5. The settlement of the question of the Palestinian refugees in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions.
   
   
6. Guaranteeing the freedom of worship and religious practice for all faiths in the Holy Places in Palestine.
   
   
7. The Security Council to formulate and guarantee arrangements for security and peace between all the states concerned in the region, including the Palestinian state.

The Palestine National Council confirms its previous resolutions with regard to the privileged relationship between the two fraternal peoples of Jordan and Palestine, together with the fact that the future relationship between the states of Jordan and Palestine will be established on the basis of a confederacy and of free and voluntary choice by the two fraternal peoples, in corroboration of the historical ties and vital common interests which link them ... The council expresses its appreciation of the courageous role played by the Israeli forces for peace ... The Palestine National Council also addresses an appeal to the various forums of the people of the United States to endeavor to halt the United States administration's policy of denying the national rights of the Palestinian people, including its sacred right to self-determination. It calls upon all sectors of the United States population to work towards the adoption of policies which are consistent with international rules, conventions, and resolutions on the subject of human rights and serve the desired purpose of bringing about peace in the Middle East and ensuring security for all its peoples, including the Palestinian people.

What They Wrote

Excerpts from the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, Algiers, Nov. 15, 1988.

At a time when the modern world was fashioning its new system of values, the prevailing balance of power in the local and international arenas excluded the Palestinians from the common destiny, and it was shown once more that it was not justice alone that turned the wheels of history. The deep injury already done the Palestinian people was therefore aggravated when a painful differentiation was made: a people deprived of independence, and one whose homeland was subjected to a new kind of foreign occupation, was exposed to an attempt to give general currency to the falsehood that Palestine was "a land without a people ......

Despite the historical injustice done to the Palestinian Arab people in its displacement and in being deprived of the right to self-determination following the adoption of General Assembly Resolution 181 (11) of 1947, which partitioned Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state, that resolution nevertheless continues to attach conditions to international legitimacy that guarantee the Palestinian Arab people the right to sovereignty and national independence....

The Palestine National Council hereby declares in the name of God and on behalf of the Palestinian Arab people, the establishment of the state of Palestine in the land of Palestine with its capital at Jerusalem.

The state of Palestine shall be for Palestinians, wherever they may be therein to develop their national and cultural identity and therein to enjoy full equality of rights. Their religious and political beliefs and human dignity shall therein be safeguarded under a democratic parliamentary system based on freedom of opinion and the freedom to form parties, on the respect of the majority for minority rights and the respect of minorities for majority decisions, on social justice and equality, and on non-discrimination in civil rights on grounds of race, religion, or color, or as between men and women, under a constitution ensuring the rule of law and an independent judiciary and on the basis of true fidelity to the age-old spiritual and cultural heritage of Palestine with respect to mutual tolerance, coexistence, and magnanimity among religions....

The state of Palestine further declares, in that connection, that it believes in the solution of international and regional problems by peaceful means in accordance with the charter of the United Nations and the resolution adopted by it, and that, without prejudice to its natural right to defend itself, it rejects the threat or use of force, violence, and intimidation against its territorial integrity and political independence or those of any other state....