Summary
The Security Council’s resolution of 1 March 1980, adopted unanimously at the 2203rd meeting, which takes note of the two reports of the Commission established under Resolution 446 (1979) (S/13450 and S/13679), commends the Commission’s work and accepts its conclusions and recommendations, deplores Israel’s refusal to co-operate with the Commission and its formal rejection of Resolutions 446 and 452, affirms the 1949 Geneva Convention’s applicability to the territories occupied since 1967 including Jerusalem, determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the territories’ physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status have no legal validity and that settling parts of its population and new immigrants there is a flagrant violation of the Convention, calls on Israel to dismantle the existing settlements and cease urgently their establishment, construction and planning, calls on all States to provide no assistance to be used specifically in connection with settlements, deplores Israel’s prohibition of Mayor Fahd Qawasma’s travel to appear before the Council, and asks the Commission to continue, to investigate the reported serious depletion of natural resources, particularly water, and to report before 1 September 1980 (Resolution 465 (1980): Israeli settlements (1 March 1980), PDF p.1).
What the file is
The resolution as printed in the Security Council’s Official Records, on 1 PDF page, about 829 words in the text copy counting the whole page. The page ends with the opening line of the Decisions for the 2204th meeting (31 March 1980). The text copy’s OCR garbles the heading (“Resolution 465 (19801 of l Man:h 1980”) and scattered words; the date and operative wording are clean in substance.
Section by section
- Preamble, reports and letters (PDF p.1). Taking note of the Commission’s reports in documents S/13450 and Corr.1 and Add.1 and S/13679, and of letters from the Permanent Representatives of Jordan (S/13801) and of Morocco, Chairman of the Islamic Group (S/13802).
- Preamble, Israel and the Commission (PDF p.1). Strongly deploring Israel’s refusal to co-operate with the Commission and regretting its formal rejection of resolutions 446 (1979) and 452 (1979).
- Preamble, Convention and policy (PDF p.1). Affirming once more the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 is applicable to the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; deploring the Government of Israel’s decision officially to support settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967; deeply concerned by the Israeli authorities’ practices in implementing that policy and its consequences for the local Arab and Palestinian population.
- Preamble, protection, Jerusalem, peace (PDF p.1). The need to consider measures for impartial protection of private and public land and property and water resources; the specific status of Jerusalem and the need to protect the unique spiritual and religious dimension of the Holy Places; the grave consequences of the settlements policy for any attempt at a comprehensive, just and lasting peace; recalling resolutions 237 (1967), 252 (1968), 267 (1969), 271 (1969) and 298 (1971) and the 11 November 1976 consensus statement; having invited Fahd Qawasma, Mayor of Al-Khalil (Hebron), to supply information under rule 39 of the provisional rules of procedure.
- Operative paragraphs 1-3 (PDF p.1). Commends the Commission’s work in preparing the report in S/13679; accepts the report’s conclusions and recommendations; calls on all parties, particularly the Government of Israel, to co-operate with the Commission.
- Operative paragraph 4 (PDF p.1). Strongly deplores Israel’s decision to prohibit the free travel of Mayor Fahd Qawasma to appear before the Security Council and requests Israel to permit his free travel to United Nations Headquarters.
- Operative paragraph 5 (PDF p.1). Determines that all measures taken by Israel to change the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure or status of the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem or any part thereof, have no legal validity, and that Israel’s policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention and a serious obstruction to peace.
- Operative paragraph 6 (PDF p.1). Strongly deplores Israel’s persistence and calls on the Government and people of Israel to rescind those measures, to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.
- Operative paragraph 7 (PDF p.1). Calls on all States not to provide Israel any assistance to be used specifically in connection with settlements in the occupied territories.
- Operative paragraphs 8-9 (PDF p.1). Requests the Commission to continue examining settlements, to investigate the reported serious depletion of natural resources, particularly water, with a view to protecting those resources, and to keep implementation under close scrutiny; requests its report before 1 September 1980 and decides to convene at the earliest possible date thereafter. Adopted unanimously at the 2203rd meeting.
- Following decision (PDF p.1). At its 2204th meeting on 31 March 1980 the Council decided to invite Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon to participate without vote — the page cuts off there. Not part of the resolution.
Key passages
- “Israel’s policy and practices of settling parts of its population and new immigrants in those territories constitute a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War” (operative paragraph 5, PDF p.1; the paragraph’s first clause, determining that all Israeli change-measures have no legal validity, is summarized above — in the text copy its “demographic composition” is followed by a full stop where the original prints a comma, checked against the original)
- “to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem” (operative paragraph 6, PDF p.1)
- “Calls upon all States not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connexion with settlements in the occupied territories” (operative paragraph 7, PDF p.1)
Evidence the work relies on
A Security Council resolution whose evidentiary basis is the work of its own Commission: the two reports taken note of (S/13450 and S/13679), the second of which paragraph 1 commends and paragraph 2 accepts in its conclusions and recommendations without reproducing them. It also proceeds from the Jordanian and Moroccan letters (S/13801, S/13802), neither reproduced, and from the information Mayor Qawasma was invited under rule 39 to supply — which the resolution records Israel prevented by prohibiting his travel.
Analysis
Resolution 465 is the escalation of Resolution 446 (1979): Israeli settlements (22 March 1979) on every axis: the earlier “no legal validity” for settlement policy becomes a determination covering all change-measures, the Convention language rises to “flagrant violation”, the demand moves from desisting and rescinding to dismantling existing settlements, and the addressees widen from Israel alone to all States (paragraph 7’s assistance bar) and to “the Government and people of Israel” in paragraph 6. Unanimity — including the United States, which had abstained on 446 — replaces the earlier 12-0-3. The Commission’s mandate also changes character, from examining settlements to investigating natural-resource depletion, particularly water, and scrutinizing implementation of this resolution itself.
People, organizations, places and events
UN Security Council Resolution 465, UN Security Council Resolution 446, Security Council Commission on Settlements, Fourth Geneva Convention, Fahd Qawasma, Hebron, City of Jerusalem
Concepts
How it relates to other sources
This is the primary text for Resolution 465, previously held from the summary in Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part III (1978-1983) and the details on the UN Security Council Resolution 446 page; the text matches that account, including the assistance bar and the water-resources investigation, and adds what the summary omits — the Qawasma travel paragraph and the “Government and people of Israel” addressee. The Commission’s third report (S/14268) that the study quotes was produced under this resolution’s paragraph 8-9 mandate. Resolution 476 (1980): Jerusalem (30 June 1980) four months later lists 465 among the Jerusalem resolutions it reaffirms.
Open questions
- The contents of S/13679, whose conclusions and recommendations paragraph 2 accepts, are not reproduced in the file; they are held in the wiki only through the United Nations study’s account.
- The file does not record whether Mayor Qawasma later travelled, or Israel’s stated grounds for prohibiting his travel.
- Paragraph 7 does not define “assistance to be used specifically in connexion with settlements”, and the file gives no compliance mechanism for it.
Coverage
PDF p.1 of 1, read in full.