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Arab Peace Initiative and Beirut Declaration (Beirut summit, 27-28 March 2002)

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aliasesArab Peace Initiative, Beirut Declaration, A/56/1026, S/2002/932

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Summary

The texts adopted by the Summit-level Council of the Arab League at its fourteenth regular session in Beirut on 27 and 28 March 2002, transmitted to the Secretary-General by Lebanon’s Chargé d’affaires on 24 April 2002 and by League Secretary-General Amre Moussa: the summit resolutions, the Final communiqué, the Beirut Declaration, the Statement on protecting innocent civilians, the inaugural address of President Émile Lahoud and the list of delegation chairmen. Resolution 221, the Arab Peace Initiative, presented by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, calls on Israel to withdraw fully from the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon, to arrive at a just and agreed solution to the Palestine refugee problem in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III), and to accept an independent sovereign Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital — whereupon the Arab States undertake to consider the Arab-Israeli conflict at an end, enter a peace agreement with Israel and establish normal relations with it in the context of a comprehensive peace, while guaranteeing rejection of Palestinian resettlement in the Arab host countries (Arab Peace Initiative and Beirut Declaration (Beirut summit, 27-28 March 2002), PDF p.6). The Beirut Declaration restates the Initiative in the leaders’ own declaratory form (PDF p.35), while Lahoud’s address frames the summit’s message as “full peace in exchange for full rights with respect to territory and return” (PDF p.39).

What the file is

United Nations document A/56/1026–S/2002/932, Distr.: General, 15 August 2002, Original: English, annexes marked [Original: Arabic], 40 PDF pages, about 23,128 words in the text copy. It consists of the Lebanese covering letter of 24 April 2002 (PDF p.1), Moussa’s letter at Annex I (PDF p.2, further to his 31 March 2002 letter enclosing the Arab Peace Initiative), and at Annex II the Beirut summit texts (PDF p.3-40). The text copy is legible; the PDF is printed in two columns and the copy interleaves columns on some pages (notably PDF p.6), reassembled in printed order in the reading notes and checked against the original at that page and at PDF p.35, p.37, p.39 and p.40. The contents (PDF p.4-5) jump from resolution 21 to resolution 25, and no resolutions 22-24 appear in the body between them either.

Section by section

  • Covering letters and contents (PDF p.1-5). Lebanon transmits Moussa’s letter enclosing the resolutions, final communiqué and other texts adopted at Beirut on 27 and 28 March 2002, for circulation as a General Assembly document under agenda items 41 and 42 and of the Security Council. Annex II lists: Resolutions, Final communiqué, Beirut Declaration, Statement on protecting innocent civilians, Address by President Émile Lahoud of Lebanon, and the list of chairmen of delegations.
  • Resolution 1 — Arab Peace Initiative, Summit resolution 14/221 (PDF p.6). As in the Summary. It reaffirms the June 1996 Cairo extraordinary summit decision that a just and comprehensive peace is a strategic choice, records the conviction that “a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for any of the parties” (PDF p.6), requests Israel to declare just peace its strategic choice, undertakes normal relations and security for all States of the region, urges Israel and all Israelis to accept it, invites international support, and asks the summit Chairman to form a special committee including interested member States and the Secretary-General to pursue contacts, in particular with the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States, the Russian Federation, the Islamic countries and the European Union.
  • Resolution 2 — Follow-up and Action Committee, 14/222 (PDF p.6-7). Commends the Committee’s monitoring of the 2001 Amman summit resolutions; the Lebanese presidency to consult on its composition and mechanisms; periodic reports to the next summit.
  • Resolution 3 — Ideas of Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi, 14/223 (PDF p.7). The ministerial committee on the ideas presented to the 2001 Amman summit to continue its work; an extraordinary summit to be convened in Cairo or another Arab State to consider the outcome.
  • Resolution 4(a) — Subventions, 14/224 A (PDF p.7-8). Arab States invited to grant the Palestinian National Authority budget a subvention of 330 million United States dollars, 55 million a month for six months from 1 April 2002, automatically renewable for a further six months if the aggression continues and the need persists, as non-reimbursable grants proportional to League secretariat assessments, into a new special League account; a further 150 million dollars to the Al-Aqsa Fund and the Al-Quds Intifadah Fund for development in Palestine; Arab peoples urged to contribute to account No. 124448 at the Arab Bank.
  • Resolution 4(b) — Support for the Intifadah, 14/224 B (PDF p.8-9). Unconditional support for “the hallowed Intifadah” (PDF p.8) and steadfastness until an independent State with Jerusalem as capital; condemnation of Israel’s military campaign, reoccupation, killings, detention and blockade. A comprehensive just peace requires Israel to withdraw from all territories occupied in 1967 under Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 425 and dismantle the settlements as unlawful, an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as capital, and recognition of the right of return of the Palestine refugees under resolution 194 (III). Israel is held liable for compensation; its “State terrorism” (PDF p.8) is condemned; the Security Council and its permanent members are urged to halt the aggression and provide international protection, and implementation of the 5 December 2001 Declaration of the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention is insisted on.
  • Resolution 5 — Solidarity with Lebanon, 14/225 (PDF p.9-10). Condemns Israel’s continued occupation of Lebanese territory and positions, detention of Lebanese citizens, failure to hand over all landmine maps to the United Nations, and violations of Lebanese sovereignty; aggression against Lebanon or Syria is aggression against all Arab States. Support for completing liberation including the Shab`a farmlands (spelling as printed) to the internationally recognized boundaries under resolution 425 (1978), release of Lebanese prisoners and detainees, removal of the landmines Israel left, and Lebanon’s right to its territorial waters. Affirms the right of return of the Palestine refugees in Lebanon and cautions that any attempt at their resettlement will undermine security and stability. On terrorism: “a distinction must be drawn between terrorism and legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation” (PDF p.10), with a call for a United Nations conference to elaborate a counter-terrorism convention with a precise definition differentiating the two.
  • Resolution 6 — Occupied Syrian Arab Golan, 14/226 (PDF p.10). Condemns the continued occupation; solidarity with Syria and support for restoration of the whole Golan to the line of 4 June 1967; support for the Arab residents’ steadfastness and Syrian Arab identity and the applicability of the 1949 Geneva Convention to them; settlement activity is unlawful, gives rise to no rights or obligations, violates the Geneva Conventions and “constitutes a war crime under Additional Protocol I” (PDF p.10); the Madrid co-sponsors and the European Union are urged to induce full Israeli withdrawal to the 4 June 1967 line.
  • Resolution 7 — Iraq and Kuwait, 14/227 (PDF p.10-11). Welcomes Iraq’s assurances respecting Kuwait’s independence, sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, obviating a repetition of the events of 1990; demands respect for Iraq’s independence, sovereignty, security, national unity and territorial integrity; urges Iraq’s cooperation on Kuwaiti prisoners and hostages and return of property, and Kuwait’s cooperation on missing Iraqis through the ICRC; welcomes the resumed Iraq–United Nations dialogue; calls for the sanctions on Iraq to be lifted; unconditionally rejects a strike against Iraq.
  • Resolution 8 — The three Arab islands, 14/228 (PDF p.11-12). Unconditional affirmation of the United Arab Emirates’ full sovereignty over the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, occupied by Iran; condemns Iran’s perpetuation of the occupation, its residential installations for the settlement of Iranians, and its military exercises there; calls on Iran to end the occupation, revoke its unilateral measures as null and void, and pursue peaceful means including referral to the International Court of Justice.
  • Resolution 9 — Lockerbie / Libya, 14/229 (PDF p.12-13). Affirms Libya has fully satisfied Security Council resolutions 731, 748, 883 and 1192; regrets the conviction of one Libyan national and the Scottish Appeal Court Opinion of 14 March 2002 rejecting Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi’s appeal, demands his immediate release and regards him while detained as a hostage; calls on the Security Council to lift the sanctions immediately and definitively, urges Arab States collectively to countermand them, regrets the United States’ 7 January 2002 renewal of its embargo, appeals for direct United States–Libya dialogue, and supports Libya’s right to compensation for sanction damage.
  • Resolutions 10(a)-(c) — Sudan, Somalia, Comoros, 14/230 A-C (PDF p.13-15). Sudan: commitment to its unity and territorial integrity, support for the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative and the Nuba mountains ceasefire, a call to the United States to lift its unilateral sanctions, and an Arab fund to assist developing the south. Somalia: a subvention of 56 million dollars to the transitional Government (account No. 91165 at the Bank of Cairo) for security, reconciliation and rebuilding State institutions, and preservation of Somalia’s unity. Comoros: support for the Framework Agreement for Reconciliation of 17 February 2001, thanks to Qatar, Oman and Libya for fund contributions, and invitations to forgive or reschedule Comoran debts.
  • Resolution 11 — Counter-terrorism, 14/231 (PDF p.15-16). Endorses Ministerial Council resolution 6170 of 10 March 2002: approval of the Arab experts’ report on Security Council resolution 1373 (2001); “categorical rejection and vigorous condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and regardless of its motives and rationale; and to differentiate between terrorism and the right of peoples to resist foreign occupation and aggression” (PDF p.15); support for a United Nations conference and comprehensive convention with a definition differentiating the two; rejection of imputing terrorism to Arabs and Muslims; condemnation of harassment of Arab and Muslim citizens; rejection of exploiting the counter-terrorism campaign to threaten force against any Arab State.
  • Resolution 12 — Tigris and Euphrates, 14/232 (PDF p.16). Support for the rights of Iraq and Syria; Turkey invited to tripartite negotiations for a just and reasonable division of the waters; concern at Turkish dams without prior consultation and at the growing Israeli role in the Turkish Günuydoğu Anadolu Projesi (GAP, spelling as printed, checked against the original at PDF p.16); welcome for the United Kingdom’s refusal of export credit guarantees for the Ilisu dam and concern at Switzerland’s resolve to provide them.
  • Resolutions 13-17 — Economic issues, 14/233-237 (PDF p.17-20). Greater Arab Free Trade Area: service fees at actual cost as lump sums, standardization of fees, forms and paperwork, no new exemptions for current members, a unified Arab drug registration board initiative, liberalization of trade in services, a study toward an Arab customs union, and a transitional period for the least developed Arab countries ending with full elimination of tariffs on Arab goods by 1 January 2010. Transport: studies to enhance land, sea and air links and a Lebanese draft facilitation convention. Air transport deregulation approved. Electricity linkages approved, with an inter-Arab energy market exporting electric power rather than oil and gas as primary materials. Inter-Arab tourism (14/237, PDF p.19-20): the private sector bears the greater part of tourism investment and governmental agencies’ actions affect the sector (preamble, PDF p.20); the Arab Ministerial Council on Tourism to formulate integration and complementarity projects, with feasibility studies, opening them to investors, and Arab banks urged to provide incentives; equality of the Arab tourist and the local resident in prices for accommodation, air travel and entry fees to tourist sites; the Transport Council to expedite an Arab convention on overland carriage of passengers, reporting on past efforts and difficulties; the Interior Council to investigate eliminating entry visas for Arab citizens and easing visas through computer networks, reporting to the 2003 summit; joint tourism and information campaigns projecting the cultural and human image of Arabs and Muslims worldwide (all PDF p.20).
  • Resolution 18 — Children of Palestine, 14/238 (PDF p.20). Care and support for Palestinian children; a committee of Arab jurists to examine their situation under the international covenants and formulate measures to ensure conviction of anyone who perpetrates an outrage against them and to secure international protection; an international conference on the subject; active participation in the May 2002 General Assembly special session on children.
  • Resolutions 19-21, 25 — Social, information, organizational, 14/239-242 (PDF p.21-22). Rights of the Arab child: the Cairo Declaration of 4 July 2001 endorsed as part of the Framework for Arab Action for Children. Poverty alleviation given highest priority in member development programmes. The information resolution (14/241, PDF p.21-22) decides to approve the allocation of the necessary appropriations for the implementation of the information programme indicated in the resolution adopted by the Council of Arab Ministers of Information at its emergency session held on 15 August 2001, on the high-priority information plan in support of the Palestinian cause (Decides printed at the top of PDF p.22). The fifteenth regular session to be held in Manama, Bahrain, in March 2003.
  • Final communiqué, paras 1-8 (PDF p.23-24). The Council met in Beirut on 27 and 28 March 2002 at President Lahoud’s invitation under the October 2000 Cairo decision to meet annually; Lahoud’s inaugural address is recognized as a document of the meeting; gratitude to King Abdullah II of Jordan as thirteenth summit chairman, happiness at the Amir of Kuwait’s recovery, congratulations on Bahrain’s declaration as a constitutional monarchy; examination of Arab solidarity and joint Arab action; thanks to the Follow-up and Action Committee; the Secretary-General’s report on joint Arab action considered.
  • Final communiqué, paras 9-13 (PDF p.24-25). Para 9: the “systematic and total war of destruction” (PDF p.24) against the Palestinian people, Israel held fully accountable and liable for compensation, and implementation of the 5 December 2001 Fourth Geneva Convention Declaration called for. Para 10 acclaims the steadfastness, the valiant Intifadah and the leadership headed by President Yasser Arafat, and the martyrs of the Intifadah. Para 11 repeats the 330 million and 150 million dollar subventions and the one day’s pay campaign. Para 12: a just and comprehensive peace as objective and strategic choice, negotiations on all tracks on the basis of resolutions 242, 338, 425 and 194 (III), the Madrid terms and land for peace; peace requires complete withdrawal including the Golan and the Lebanese territories including the Shab`a farmlands, Palestinian self-determination and an independent State with Jerusalem as capital, guaranteeing the right of return, and release of Arab detainees and abduction victims. Para 13: Israel bears full legal responsibility for the existence of the refugee problem and their expulsion; total rejection of resettlement; Jerusalem measures null and void under resolutions 252, 267, 465 and 478; severance of relations with States that move their embassies to Jerusalem or recognize it as Israel’s capital, per Amman 1980, Baghdad 1990 and Cairo 2000.
  • Final communiqué, paras 14-19 (PDF p.25-26). Golan solidarity (para 14); Lebanon: liberation including the Shab`a farmlands, commendation of the Lebanese resistance, release of detainees, landmine maps, and compensation including for “the Qana massacre caused by its shelling of a United Nations compound in southern Lebanon” (PDF p.26) (para 15); Lebanon Support Fund reactivation (para 16); suspension of relations with Israel and reactivation of the Office for the Arab Boycott of Israel until full withdrawal to the 4 June 1967 line (para 17); Israel’s accession to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and IAEA safeguards over all its nuclear installations, and a Middle East free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction (para 18); welcome for European Union initiatives, and an appeal to the United States to reassess its reading of the situation and resume the peace process on all tracks without delay (para 19).
  • Final communiqué, paras 20-28 (PDF p.26-28). Counter-terrorism after 11 September 2001: condemnation of the attacks in the United States and of terrorism, differentiation from the legitimate right to resist occupation, citing General Assembly resolution 46/51 of 9 December 1991, affirmation of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian peoples’ right to resist, and rejection of linking terrorism with Islam and the Arabs (para 20). Iraq–Kuwait assurances, respect for Iraq, prisoners, dialogue, lifting sanctions (para 21); unconditional rejection of a strike against Iraq (para 22). The three islands (para 23). Libya sanctions and Al-Megrahi’s release (para 24). Somalia’s 56 million dollar subvention (para 25). Sudan unity and the Egyptian-Libyan initiative (para 26); approval of the statute of the Arab fund for the south (para 27). Comoros unity and reconciliation support (para 28).
  • Final communiqué, paras 29-37 (PDF p.29-31). Tigris and Euphrates rights and trilateral negotiations (para 29); dialogue with countries on the periphery of the Arab region (para 30); Afro-Arab cooperation (para 31); revival of the Euro-Arab dialogue and a League–European Union cooperation agreement (para 32); Economic and Social Council evolution proposals referred to foreign ministers (para 33); the World Solidarity Fund for poverty eradication (para 34); Arab economies after 11 September, whose events “accelerated the decline in the growth of the global economy” (PDF p.30) (para 35); Arab economic integration (para 36); the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, completion by the beginning of 2005, an Arab customs union as the next stage, competition rules and electronic commerce (para 37).
  • Final communiqué, paras 38-50 (PDF p.31-33). Transport studies and a collective agreement (para 38); air travel deregulation decided (para 39); intra-Arab investment encouraged, especially infrastructure (para 40); electricity linkages report approved (para 41); information technology: the Arab Communications and Information Technology Organization established in Tunis, the Arab Information Technology Forum in Cairo, participation in the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis (para 42); concern at the environmental deterioration in Palestine and the occupied territories and welcome for the UNEP Governing Council decision requesting its Executive Director to visit and appoint a panel of experts to study it (para 43); the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, 26 August-4 September 2002, and common but differentiated responsibility (para 44); the World Food Summit in Rome, 10-13 June 2002 (para 45); inter-Arab tourism recommendations approved and joint tourism-information campaigns (para 46); Arab financial institutions (para 47); the first Arab Economic Congress, Cairo, 16-18 June 2002 (para 48); the fifteenth session in Manama in March 2003 (para 49); gratitude to Lebanon and President Lahoud (para 50).
  • Beirut Declaration (PDF p.34-36). The Kings, Presidents and Amirs, having examined the grave developments — in particular Israel’s “general war of destruction launched by Israel on the pretext of combating terrorism while exploiting the tragic events of September” (PDF p.34) — declare: strengthening Arab solidarity; acclaim for the Palestinian people’s steadfastness and its valiant Intifadah and support until it achieves its just demands, including the right to return, self-determination and an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital; solidarity with Lebanon in completing the liberation of its territory, pride in the Lebanese resistance, release of Lebanese detainees, and condemnation of Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace and territorial waters; solidarity with Syria and the Syrian Arab citizens of the occupied Golan, any aggression against Syria or Lebanon being aggression against all Arab States; suspension of any relations with Israel and reactivation of the Office for the Arab Boycott of Israel until full withdrawal to the line of 4 June 1967; peace only if just and comprehensive under resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 425 (1978) and land for peace, the Syrian and Lebanese tracks inseparable and organically linked with the Palestinian track (PDF p.34-35). The Declaration then restates the Arab Peace Initiative in full — the request to Israel, the three calls (withdrawal including the Golan to the 4 June 1967 line and from southern Lebanon; a just and agreed refugee solution under resolution 194 (III); a sovereign Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as capital), the Arab undertakings (end of conflict and a peace agreement; normal relations), the guarantee against resettlement, the urging of Israel, the invitation to the international community and the special committee (PDF p.35) — and continues with the Iraq assurances and demands, the lifting of sanctions on Iraq and the unconditional rejection of a strike against it, the United Arab Emirates’ sovereignty over its three islands including referral to the International Court of Justice, condemnation of international terrorism including the 11 September 2001 attack and of its exploitation by Israel, the distinction between terrorism and the legitimate right to resist foreign aggression, interaction among cultures and civilizations, expedition of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area, and thanks to Lebanon and President Lahoud (PDF p.35-36).
  • Statement on protecting innocent civilians (PDF p.37). A two-paragraph statement (title as printed): Israel is persisting in aggression and occupation and in actions seeking to liquidate the land and institutions of the Palestinian people, a situation that “must be countered with national resistance based on a solid ground of legitimacy” (PDF p.37); despite the deep anger and mounting frustration at the occupation forces’ continuing military aggression, “the Arab summit calls for the protection of innocent citizens from the dangers of the escalating confrontation caused by the Israeli policy of aggression” (PDF p.37) — the body prints “innocent citizens” where the title prints “innocent civilians”.
  • Address by President Émile Lahoud (PDF p.38-39). Lahoud thanks King Abdullah II for presiding over the Amman session and Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan for the United Arab Emirates forgoing its turn so the summit could meet in Lebanon. More than 30 years have elapsed since the resolutions calling for complete Israeli withdrawal and more than half a century since those requiring return of the Palestinian people; from Madrid “by way of the Oslo manoeuvres and up to the so-called Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet report, matters have gone from bad to worse” (PDF p.38). A mere halt to violence between occupiers and those resisting occupation would leave the occupation in place ad infinitum; occupation is the greatest terrorism. Israel has blocked from the outset all roads to implementing resolution 194 (III) and Security Council resolutions 242, 338 and 425; it withdrew from most of southern Lebanon only under the pressure of the resistance and will only defer to Palestinian rights under the pressure of the Intifadah, above all the right of return, “on which the Taif accord was based, and the Lebanese Constitution rejects any kind of resettlement in Lebanon” (PDF p.39). The great danger is accepting a trade of a halt to the resistance and the Intifadah for a halt to violence rather than for the elimination of the occupation; the only permissible deal is implementation of the relevant resolutions, full withdrawal to the boundaries of 4 June 1967 and the Palestinian people’s return, and the summit’s message is “peace — full peace in exchange for full rights with respect to territory and return” (PDF p.39).
  • Chairmen of the delegations (PDF p.40). The 22 delegation heads, listed by country in the alphabetical order, in Arabic, of the country names: Jordan (Prime Minister Ali Abul Raghib), the United Arab Emirates (Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum), Bahrain (King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa), Tunisia (President Ben Ali), Algeria (President Bouteflika), Djibouti (President Guelleh), Saudi Arabia (Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud), Sudan (Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha), Syria (President Bashar Al-Assad), Somalia (President Abdikassim Salad Hassan), Iraq (Izzat Ibrahim), Oman (Al-Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmud Al Sa`id), Palestine (Farouk Qaddoumi, Minister for Foreign Affairs), Qatar (Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Thani), Comoros (Colonel Khalid Sharif), Kuwait (Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah), Lebanon (President Lahoud), Libya (Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treiki), Egypt (Prime Minister Atef Muhammad Ebeid), Morocco (King Mohammed VI), Mauritania (Sheikh El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna) and Yemen (President Ali Abdullah Saleh). Palestine is represented by its Foreign Minister, not by President Arafat, who is not listed.

Key passages

  • “To withdraw fully from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, and from the territories in southern Lebanon that are still occupied” (PDF p.6).
  • “To arrive at a just and agreed solution to the Palestine refugee problem in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 194 (III)” (PDF p.6).
  • “Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict at an end and enter into a peace agreement between them and Israel while achieving security for all the States of the region” (PDF p.6).
  • “Guarantees the rejection of all forms of Palestinian resettlement, which is incompatible with the special situation in the Arab host countries” (PDF p.6).
  • “This is a situation that must be countered with national resistance based on a solid ground of legitimacy” (Statement on protecting innocent civilians, PDF p.37).
  • “full peace in exchange for full rights with respect to territory and return” (Lahoud address, PDF p.39).

Evidence the work relies on

The document is a primary record of the summit’s own acts and presents no external evidence; it invokes the resolutions and instruments it cites: Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 425 (1978), 731, 748, 883, 1192 and 1373 (2001), General Assembly resolutions 194 (III) and 46/51, the 1991 Madrid Conference terms of reference and the land-for-peace principle, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I, the Arab Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism, and its own prior summit and ministerial resolutions (Cairo 1996, Amman 2001, Ministerial Council resolutions 6119, 6153, 6156, 6170, 6171, 6179 of 2001-2002). Lahoud’s address additionally invokes the Oslo process, the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet report as stages on the road from Madrid, and the Taif accord and the Lebanese Constitution on resettlement in Lebanon (PDF p.38-39).

Analysis

The document contains three registers on the same decisions. The resolutions are operative texts, each closing with its summit resolution number (14/221 to 14/242) and adoption date of 28 March 2002; the Final communiqué restates most of them in leaders’ voice with added characterizations (for example the Qana compensation demand and the Arab Boycott Office reactivation, which appear in the communiqué but not in the resolutions); and the Beirut Declaration restates them again as a collective declaration, reproducing the Arab Peace Initiative word for word in its operative part (PDF p.35) while framing the Palestinian demands in the Declaration’s own preamble as the right to return, self-determination and a State with Jerusalem as capital (PDF p.34). On refugees the texts use three distinct formulations, kept separate on this page: the Initiative’s “just and agreed solution” under resolution 194 (III) (PDF p.6), resolution 224 B’s “right of return” under the same resolution (PDF p.8), and the communiqué’s guarantee of the right of return coupled with Israel’s full legal responsibility for the problem’s existence and the expulsion (PDF p.25). Lahoud’s inaugural address is a fourth register, and the hardest: it treats a halt to violence unlinked to implementation of the resolutions as leaving the occupation in place, presents resistance and the Intifadah as the pressure that alone produced Israel’s withdrawal from most of southern Lebanon and will alone secure Palestinian rights, and sums up the exchange as full peace for full rights on territory and return (PDF p.38-39) — a framing that sits alongside, and in tension with, the Initiative’s offer of normal relations. The short civilians statement likewise pairs a call to protect innocent citizens with an affirmation of national resistance on a ground of legitimacy (PDF p.37). The Palestine resolutions sit inside a full summit agenda — Iraq sanctions and the threatened strike, Lockerbie, Sudan, Somalia, water, trade and the post-11 September terrorism definition dispute — which is itself part of the record of what the summit treated as one agenda.

People, organizations, places and events

Arab Peace Initiative, Arab League, Amre Moussa, Émile Lahoud, Yasir Arafat, Madrid Conference, Second Intifada, UN Security Council Resolution 242, UN Security Council Resolution 338, UN General Assembly Resolution 194, Tenet Plan, Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, Lebanon

Concepts

Right of Return, Normalization, Two-state solution

How it relates to other sources

The Initiative’s terms are the collective Arab offer that later ingested works discuss against the Khartoum Resolutions stance of 1967 — no peace, no recognition, no negotiations — recorded on Arab League: here recognition, peace and normal relations are offered, conditioned on full withdrawal, a Palestinian State and a refugee solution under resolution 194 (III). Its refugee language is narrower than resolution 224 B and the communiqué in the same document (see Analysis). The communiqué’s Boycott Office reactivation and its suspension of relations with Israel stand alongside the Initiative in the same summit record. Lahoud’s address places the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet Plan in a sequence from Madrid through Oslo in which, as he presents it, matters went from bad to worse (PDF p.38) — the summit that adopted the Initiative thus also records a host president’s dismissal of the two 2001 ceasefire instruments the wiki holds as Report of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee and The Tenet Plan: Israeli-Palestinian Ceasefire and Security Plan.

Open questions

  • The contents and the body both jump from resolution 21 to resolution 25; what resolutions 22-24 were, and whether they were adopted elsewhere, is not stated in the file.
  • The Turkish project name is printed “Günuydoğu Anadolu Projesi (GAP)” at PDF p.16; checked against the original PDF at that page, which prints the name in that same form as the text copy. It is recorded as printed and not normalised.
  • The Statement at PDF p.37 is titled with “innocent civilians” and its operative sentence calls for “the protection of innocent citizens”; both forms are printed in the same short text and are recorded as printed, not reconciled.
  • Lahoud’s address at PDF p.39 prints “to lost the case” and “for the right the Palestinian people to return to its land”, both as printed and not corrected.
  • The chairmen list at PDF p.40 prints Libya’s delegation head’s affiliation as “of the Great the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya”, word order as printed in the original, checked at PDF p.40, and not reordered.
  • Why Palestine’s delegation was chaired by Foreign Minister Farouk Qaddoumi rather than President Arafat is not stated in the file; the communiqué acclaims the leadership headed by Arafat (PDF p.24) while the chairmen list names Qaddoumi (PDF p.40).

Coverage

PDF p.1-40 of 40, read in full

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