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Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part III (1978-1983)

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aliasesThe Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part III, Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem 1978-1983

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Summary

A United Nations study continuing Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917-1947 (Part I) and Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part II (1947-1977) from 1978 to 1983: the majority position that attainment of the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights is a sine qua non for peace, the Venice declaration, the Reagan, Fez and Brezhnev plans of September 1982, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the Tripoli evacuation, the settlements Commission’s findings, the nullity of the Jerusalem “Basic Law”, the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories’s human-rights conclusions, and the 1983 International Conference on the Question of Palestine at Geneva, whose Geneva Declaration on Palestine and Programme of Action for the Achievement of Palestinian Rights are reproduced in annex I, with Security Council resolutions 508, 509, 520, 521 and 542 (1983), General Assembly resolution ES-7/9 and resolution 38/79 D reproduced in annex II (Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: Part III (1978-1983), lines 77-961).

What the file is

The web-page text of the third part of the United Nations study The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, covering 1978-1983, as published on the United Nations Question of Palestine site; the page version is dated 2019-01-03 in the copy’s dateline (line 75). The text copy is 961 lines as counted with its final blank line, and about 16,134 words (computed from the text copy), of which lines 1-76 and 913-960 are website navigation furniture and line 961 is blank. The body is an Introduction, one numbered section (I. Palestine and the United Nations, 1978-1983) with lettered and unlettered subheadings, a Conclusion, 8 numbered notes, and two annexes. No maps, tables or figures are present in the copy. The study’s own publication date, place and document symbol are not stated in the copy; context the copy does not supply is held under Open questions.

Section by section

  • Introduction (lines 77-143): Parts I and II covered the question up to 1977; since 1978 it has remained in the forefront of United Nations attention. The majority considerations are: (a) “The question of Palestine is at the heart of the problem of the Middle East” and no solution can be envisaged without taking into account the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people; (b) realization of the rights to return, to self-determination and to an independent State in Palestine will contribute to a solution; (c) participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the representative of the Palestinian people, on an equal footing under resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and 3375 (XXX) is indispensable; (d) acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, hence Israel’s obligation to withdraw completely and unconditionally. These views were expressed by the Non-Aligned Conference, the Organization of African Unity, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Warsaw Treaty Organization, and by individual Governments. The European Community’s Venice declaration of 13 June 1980 (note 1/, document A/35/299-S/14009) held that the Palestinian people must be placed in a position to exercise fully their right to self-determination, that the PLO should be associated with the negotiations, that Israel should end the occupation held since 1967, that settlements were illegal under international law, and that no unilateral initiative to change Jerusalem’s status would be accepted. An Egypt-France draft resolution of 28 July 1982 reaffirming all States’ right to existence and security and the Palestinian people’s legitimate national rights including self-determination was never put to a vote. The September 1983 International Conference principles are summarized (opposition to settlements and to measures altering Jerusalem’s status, in particular the “Basic Law”; all States’ right to existence within secure and internationally recognized boundaries, the sine qua non of which was attainment of Palestinian rights). The Lebanon narrative follows: the 24 July 1981 cease-fire, nine months of relative stability, Israel’s June 1982 invasion — initially declared to drive Palestinians out of a 25-mile zone, then, after declaring that “its intention was to eliminate the PLO”, a drive to Beirut, the PLO’s two-month hold-out, the 14 August cease-fire, the PLO withdrawal and transfer to neighbouring countries, and the headquarters’ move to Tunisia after safety guarantees for the civilians left behind. Bashir Gemayel’s assassination is dated 15 September 1982 in the copy; Israeli forces advanced into West Beirut early on the same day as printed, controlled most of West Beirut by 16 September, and took up positions around the refugee camps; resolution 520 (1982) followed. Reports on 17 September said armed men had entered the Sabra and Shatila camps the previous evening and were engaging in wholesale killing; on 18 September a large-scale massacre was confirmed, with bodies of men, women and children, some mutilated, homes blown up with occupants inside, and an apparent mass grave. The Reagan Plan of 1 September 1982 (note 2/) proposed Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza in association with Jordan, an exchange of territory for peace under resolution 242, and an undivided Jerusalem whose final status would be negotiated; Israel rejected it immediately and most Arab States criticized it as falling short. The Fez Plan of 9 September 1982 (note 3/, A/37/696-S/15510) is given in its eight points: Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied in 1967 including Arab Jerusalem, dismantling of settlements, freedom of worship, Palestinian self-determination under the PLO as sole and legitimate representative with indemnification of those not desiring to return, a United Nations transitional period for the West Bank and Gaza not exceeding a few months, an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital, and Security Council guarantees of peace and of implementation; rejected by Israel, it converges on many points with the position initially recommended by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Brezhnev six-point plan of 15 September 1982 (note 4/, A/38/696-S/15556), reaffirmed 5 January 1983 by the Warsaw Treaty’s Political Consultative Committee, is given in a single sentence: inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force and complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, the West Bank including the eastern part of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese territories; Palestinian self-determination and an independent State in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; all States’ right to secure and independent existence on a basis of complete reciprocity; termination of the state of war and peace between the Arab States and Israel; and international guarantees.
  • Section I, opening (lines 145-150): The General Assembly has repeatedly reaffirmed self-determination without external interference, national independence and sovereignty in Palestine, and the right to return to homes and property; the Palestinian people is a principal party to a just and lasting peace. The PLO’s 1974 observer status (note 5/, resolutions 3210 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX)) and its Security Council participation rights under rule 37, and its full-participant place at the International Conference, are stated. The Assembly has repeatedly endorsed the Committee’s recommendations and urged the Council to do so, but many resolutions have not been implemented and the matter remains before the Security Council.
  • A. Emergency special session (lines 151-162): Because the Council was unable to adopt and implement the Committee’s recommendations for lack of unanimity among its permanent members, the seventh emergency special session sat 22-29 July 1980 and adopted resolution ES-7/2 by 112 votes to 7, with 24 abstentions, reaffirming resolutions 3236 and 3237 (XXIX), withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 including Jerusalem (urged to start before 15 November 1980), the rights to return, self-determination and an independent sovereign State, the PLO’s equal-footing participation, inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force, opposition to resettlement of Palestinians outside their homeland, authorization to the Secretary-General to work towards implementation of paragraphs 59 to 72 of the Committee’s report, and a request that the Council, in the event of Israeli non-compliance, consider effective measures under Chapter VII. Votes for resolutions endorsing the Committee’s recommendations rose: 98 to 16 with 32 abstentions in 1980, 111 to 12 with 20 in 1981, 119 to 2 with 21 in 1982, and 126 to 2 with 19 in 1983. The session was resumed in April, June, August and September 1982.
  • Invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 1982 (lines 163-180, continued lines 181-184): On Israel’s invasion on 4 June 1982 the Council unanimously adopted resolutions 508 (1982) and 509 (1982) on 5 and 6 June, calling for cessation of all military activities within Lebanon and demanding Israel withdraw forthwith and unconditionally (texts in annex II). Cease-fire arrangements took effect 12 August 1982. Resolution 520 (1982) of 17 September condemned the incursions into West Beirut and demanded a return to positions held before 15 September. In November 1983 hostilities broke out in and around Tripoli following disaffection within the PLO; resolution 542 (1983) of 23 November requested an immediate cease-fire and peaceful settlement. In December Yasir Arafat, accompanied by 3,000 armed elements and 1,000 militia, embarked from Tripoli aboard Greek ships, the Secretary-General agreeing, after consultations, that a United Nations flag be flown over the evacuation ships as a humanitarian gesture. The Sabra and Shatila massacres are dated 17 and 18 September 1982 in this passage, with several hundred men, women and children brutally killed; the Israeli Government authorized an independent judicial inquiry on 28 September, whose report was published on 8 February 1983 (note 6/); a Lebanese Government investigation’s findings were not yet available. Resolution 521 (1982) of 19 September condemned the massacre and requested protection for civilians in and around Beirut. Resolution ES-7/9 was adopted at the one-meeting resumption on 24 September 1982 by 147 votes to 2, with separate votes of 146 to none on operative paragraph 2 (a Council investigation of the massacre) and 149 to none on operative paragraph 4 (strict respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity). Resolutions 37/86 D and E (consideration 30 November-2 December 1982) reaffirmed inadmissibility and unconditional withdrawal, requested the Council to recognize the Palestinian Arab people’s rights including an independent Arab State, reiterated the request “to implement the plan which, inter alia, recommends that an independent Arab State shall come into existence in Palestine”, demanded complete and unconditional Israeli withdrawal with all property and services intact, and recommended a short United Nations-supervised transitional period in the occupied Palestinian territories after withdrawal, with a peace achieved under United Nations auspices and the PLO participating on an equal footing.
  • Israeli settlements in the occupied territories (lines 185-232): Resolution 446 (1979) determined settlement policy had no legal validity and was a serious obstruction to peace, called on Israel to abide scrupulously by the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 (note 7/) and not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the occupied territories, and established a three-member Commission (Bolivia, Portugal and Zambia, Portugal chairing) to report by 1 July 1979. Israel did not co-operate. Resolution 452 (1979) of 20 July 1979 requested a further report before 1 November 1979. Resolution 465 (1980) of 1 March 1980, following the second report (S/13679), determined 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 settlement of parts of Israel’s population and new immigrants was a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention, called on all States not to provide assistance to be used specifically in connection with settlements, and asked the Commission to investigate the reported serious depletion of natural resources, particularly water (note 8/, S/13450, attaches to the Commission’s mandate passage). The third report (S/14268) is quoted at length: deep anxiety at a continuous process of “detrioration” (as printed) that could lead to a major conflagration; (a) Israel is actively pursuing a wilful, systematic large-scale settlement process; (b) a correlation exists between settlements and displacement of the Arab population; (c) coercive and subtle methods including control of water resources, seizure of private property, destruction of houses and banishment; (d) drastic and adverse changes to the economic and social pattern of the remaining Arab population and profound geographical and demographic changes; (e) violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention and Council decisions; “33.3 per cent of the West Bank has been confiscated to date”; settlement policy as an incitement to unrest, a cause of displacement and dispossession, and a use of water as an economic and even political weapon; and increased tension over Jerusalem after the “basic law”. The third report had not as yet been considered by the Council. By 1983 Israel had established 204 settlements and publicly stated its plan to increase that number.
  • The status of Jerusalem (lines 233-242): Resolution 476 (1980) deplored Israel’s persistence in changing Jerusalem’s physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and status, amid Knesset legislative steps. After the “Basic Law”, resolution 478 (1980) called on States with diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw them; 13 countries withdrew their missions. Resolution 35/169 E of 15 December 1980 censured the “Basic Law” in the strongest terms as a violation of international law not affecting the continued application of the 1949 Geneva Convention, and held all measures altering Jerusalem’s character and status null and void. Resolution 36/120 E of 10 December 1981 determined the same once again; Israel has continued to consider Jerusalem its eternal capital.
  • Violation of human rights (lines 243-268): The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, established by resolution 2443 (XXIII) of 19 December 1968, has reported regularly; Israel has refused co-operation and access, and a further good-offices effort in January-February 1982 did not change Israel’s position. The dismissal of the Mayor and Municipal Council of El Bireh on 18 March 1982, and of the mayors of Nablus and Ramallah on 25 March, brought strikes, demonstrations, clashes and deaths of demonstrators. The Committee’s 1982 report (A/37/485) is quoted at length: persistent violation derives from the very fact of a 15-year military occupation and a policy of colonization and annexation; “The military orders through which Israel has changed law in all areas have exceeded 950 in all”; the Golan Heights application of Israeli legislation is de facto annexation; the economy of the occupied territories has been completely subjugated to the Israeli economy; the “village leagues” established from September 1981 to eliminate the municipalities’ popular base have been given permit powers; and the security argument for annexation and settlement is without justification. Resolution 38/79 D was adopted by 115 votes to 2, with 27 abstentions, after consideration of the Committee’s report (A/38/409); its text is in annex II. The Commission on Human Rights has likewise condemned Israel’s violations, reaffirmed the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights and recognized their right to regain their rights by all means in accordance with the Charter (E/1983/13 and Corr.1).
  • The International Conference on the Question of Palestine (lines 269-340): Resolution 36/120 C decided to convene the Conference not later than 1984 on the basis of resolution ES-7/2; after the Lebanon invasion, the Sabra and Shatila massacres and the creeping annexation of the West Bank, resolution ES-7/7 decided on UNESCO headquarters in Paris, 16-27 August 1983 (as initially decided in the copy). The objectives endorsed were to increase international awareness of the facts and to attain governmental and non-governmental support for ways to enable the Palestinian people to exercise its inalienable rights, specifically a Palestinian State. Five regional preparatory meetings were held: Arusha (29 March-12 April 1983 as printed), Managua (11-15 April), Sharjah (25-29 April), Kuala Lumpur (3-7 May) and Geneva (4-8 July 1983). The Conference was held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 29 August to 7 September 1983; one hundred and thirty-seven States attended, 20 as observers, with 25 intergovernmental organizations, United Nations bodies, programmes and specialized agencies, 104 non-governmental organizations as observers, and 16 eminent persons. Arafat’s eighth-plenary address deplored the United States’ negative role in the Council, explained the PLO’s rejection of the Reagan proposal, recorded the Palestine National Council’s acceptance of the Fez plan and support for the Soviet initiative, and put forward considerations (a)-(g), ending with the PLO’s readiness to co-operate within the United Nations framework and its call for an international conference with the two major Powers participating. On 7 September 1983 the Conference adopted by acclamation the Geneva Declaration and the Programme of Action. Resolution 38/58 C endorsed the Declaration and the conference call with guidelines (a)-(f), and resolution “A/38/58 A” (as printed) endorsed the Committee’s recommendations and asked it to keep implementation of the Programme under review.
  • Conclusion (lines 341-361): The question continues to dominate international affairs. The Secretary-General’s 1981 report is quoted on the United Nations as a universal forum and on the issues — all States’ right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries, the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights including self-determination, withdrawal from occupied territories, and Jerusalem’s primary importance — and his 1982 report is quoted: “It is absolutely essential that serious negotiations on the various aspects of the” problem (the copy inserts “[the Middle East]”) involve all parties at the earliest possible time, and “I feel that the Security Council, the only place in the world where all the parties concerned can sit at the same table, could become a most useful forum for this absolutely essential effort”. The Committee’s report to the thirty-eighth session supported the Geneva Declaration and Programme of Action, appealed for endorsement and implementation, recommended resolute action through the Security Council “so that the present destructive momentum will be revised” (as printed), and recommended concrete actions to convene an international peace conference on the Middle East.
  • Notes (lines 363-380): Notes 1/-8/ give documents A/35/299-S/14009; The New York Times, 2 September 1982, sect. A, p. 11; A/37/696-S/15510; A/38/696-S/15556; resolutions 3210 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX); the Beirut camps Commission of Inquiry, whose final report was published in The Jerusalem Post of 9 February 1983; Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973; and S/13450.
  • Annex I (lines 381-594): A. The Geneva Declaration on Palestine, in full: convened at Geneva 29 August-7 September 1983 under resolutions 36/120 C of 10 December 1981, ES-7/7 of 19 August 1982 and 37/86 C of 10 December 1982, opened by Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and presided over by Senegal’s Foreign Minister Moustapha Niassé; paragraphs 1-6 give the denial of Palestinian rights as the principal cause of Middle East tension, the settlement basis in resolutions 3236 (XXIX) and Security Council guarantees, the United Nations’ essential role, the guidelines (a)-(f), the call for an international peace conference on the Middle East under United Nations auspices with all parties including the PLO, the United States and the Soviet Union on an equal footing, and the importance of the time factor. The Programme of Action for the Achievement of Palestinian Rights follows (headed without a “B.” in the copy): section I recommends 29 actions to States, including opposing settlement and annexation measures in violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Hague Regulations of 1907, refraining from assistance encouraging Israel, protecting the Holy Places, meeting the threat posed by Israel’s collaboration with “theapartheid régime” (as printed) in Africa, at least $8 million in additional UNDP contributions for 1982-1986, UNCTAD and legal-aid measures, ensuring UNRWA can meet essential needs, reviewing the situation of Palestinian women ahead of Nairobi 1985, prisoner-of-war status for detained Palestinian and Lebanese combatants, recognition of the PLO, and designation of a Year of Palestine; section II invites the Security Council (withdrawal within a specific time-table, a short United Nations-supervised transitional period, facilitation of the Right of Return, supervised elections to a constituent assembly, possible temporary peace-keeping forces; urgent cessation of settlement policy and reactivation of the 446 Commission; action on water restrictions; and Charter measures in the event of persistent non-compliance) and requests a Secretary-General-convened co-ordinated assistance meeting and a Department of Public Information programme; section III addresses worldwide public opinion, NGOs, media, universities and jurists. Lettered footnotes a/-k/ cite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Treaty Series vol. 75, Nos. 972 and 973, the Carnegie Endowment Hague volume, ECOSOC and UNCTAD records, and the five regional meeting documents A/CONF.114/1-5.
  • Annex II (lines 595-912, with website furniture at lines 913-961): Resolution 508 (1982) in full (2374th meeting, 5 June 1982: cessation of all military activities within Lebanon and across the Lebanese-Israeli border not later than 0600 hours on 6 June 1982, and a Secretary-General report within 48 hours); resolution 509 (1982) in full (2375th meeting, 6 June 1982: Israel to withdraw forthwith and unconditionally to Lebanon’s internationally recognized boundaries, acceptance to be communicated within 24 hours); resolution 520 (1982) in full (2395th meeting, 17 September 1982: condemnation of the murder of Bashir Gemayel and of the Israeli incursions into Beirut, return to positions held before 15 September, United Nations observers under resolution 516); resolution 521 (1982) in full (2396th meeting, 19 September 1982: condemnation of “the criminal massacre of Palestinian civilians in Beirut”, observers increased from ten to fifty, consultations on further steps including possible United Nations forces, report within 48 hours); resolution 542 (1983) in full (2501st meeting, 23 November 1983: cease-fire in northern Lebanon, tribute to UNRWA and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tripoli); General Assembly resolution ES-7/9 in full (condemnation of the massacre in Beirut “on 17 September 1982” as printed, a Council investigation, full support for resolutions 508 and 509, return of Palestinian refugees under resolution 194 (III), humanitarian aid, and a photographic exhibit of the massacre for the visitors’ hall); and General Assembly resolution 38/79 D in full (commendation of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, occupation itself as a grave violation, Israel’s grave breaches as war crimes, condemnation of the policies listed in paragraph 7(a)-(n) including annexation, Golan imposition, settlements, deportation, confiscation, house destruction, collective punishment and torture, condemnation of armed settlers, nullity of all measures changing the territories’ character or status, return of displaced inhabitants, and requests to the Committee, the Secretary-General and the Security Council). Lettered footnotes a/-p/ give the source documents for each resolution.

Key passages

  • “The question of Palestine is at the heart of the problem of the Middle East and consequently no solution to the Middle East problem can be envisaged without taking into account the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people” (lines 89-91 approx.).
  • “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” (resolution 465 (1980) as quoted, lines 197-199 approx.).
  • “33.3 per cent of the West Bank has been confiscated to date” (settlements Commission third report as quoted, lines 215-217 approx.).
  • “The military orders through which Israel has changed law in all areas have exceeded 950 in all” (Special Committee 1982 report as quoted, lines 257-259 approx.).
  • “I feel that the Security Council, the only place in the world where all the parties concerned can sit at the same table, could become a most useful forum for this absolutely essential effort” (Secretary-General’s 1982 report as quoted, lines 355-357 approx.).

Evidence the work relies on

  • United Nations resolutions and votes as the study presents them: ES-7/2, ES-7/7, ES-7/9, 35/169 E, 36/120 C and E, 37/86 C, D and E, 38/58 A (as printed) and C, and 38/79 D in the General Assembly; 446, 452, 465, 476, 478, 490, 501, 508, 509, 512, 513, 516, 520, 521 and 542 in the Security Council, with the annexed texts of 508, 509, 520, 521, 542, ES-7/9 and 38/79 D.
  • Reports the study quotes or summarizes: the settlements Commission’s three reports, the third cited as S/14268; the Special Committee’s 1982 report (A/37/485) and the report considered at the thirty-eighth session (A/38/409); the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People’s reports, including the recommendations in paragraphs 59 to 72 of its report and its report to the thirty-eighth session; and the Secretary-General’s reports on the work of the United Nations for 1981 and 1982 and his Lebanon reports (including S/15382/Add.1 and S/15400).
  • The declarations and plans the study presents: the Venice declaration (A/35/299-S/14009), the Reagan proposals as reported in The New York Times of 2 September 1982, the Fez plan (A/37/696-S/15510), the Brezhnev plan (A/38/696-S/15556), the Geneva Declaration and the Programme of Action.
  • The Israeli Commission of Inquiry into the events at the refugee camps in Beirut (note 6/), and the 1949 Geneva Conventions (Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 972 and 973) and the Hague Regulations of 1907.

Analysis

The study is a United Nations institutional account written from within the majority position it documents: its Introduction states that position as a set of basic considerations accepted by the majority, and its single section then assembles the record of 1978-1983 — resolutions and their rising vote margins, commission and committee reports quoted at length, and the annexed resolution texts — as evidence that the position commanded growing support while remaining unimplemented, a tension the study itself states (“many of the resolutions adopted by the United Nations in the General Assembly and the Security Council on the question of Palestine have not been implemented”). Its method is documentary accumulation rather than argument: long quotations from the settlements Commission’s third report and the Special Committee’s 1982 report carry the factual weight on settlements, water and human rights, and those bodies’ exclusion by Israel (no co-operation with either) is recorded as part of the record. The study gives Israel’s stated intentions where it reports them (the 25-mile zone; Jerusalem as its eternal capital) but does not present an Israeli case on settlements, Jerusalem or Lebanon, and it reports the plans it favours (Fez, Geneva) as converging with the Committee’s recommendations while noting the Reagan plan’s rejection by Israel and criticism by most Arab States in the same summary form. Figures are carried from the bodies quoted (33.3 per cent confiscation, 204 settlements by 1983, over 950 military orders, observer and evacuation numbers) without independent checking inside the study. The dating and numbering slips held under Open questions are in the copy as transmitted and are not corrected here.

People, organizations, places and events

Yasir Arafat, Bashir Gemayel, Ronald Reagan, Palestine Liberation Organization, Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, UNRWA, International Conference on the Question of Palestine, Sabra and Shatila massacre, Lebanon invasion 1982, City of Jerusalem, UN Security Council

Concepts

Right of Return, Self-determination, Fourth Geneva Convention

How it relates to other sources

Open questions

  • The Introduction dates Bashir Gemayel’s assassination to 15 September 1982 and the Israeli advance into West Beirut to early on “the same day”, with control of most of West Beirut by 16 September; no other date for the assassination is given in the copy, and the annexed resolution 520 (1982) condemns his murder without dating it. The dates are recorded as printed.
  • The massacre’s dates are given three ways in the copy: armed men entered the camps on the evening before the reports received on 17 September, with confirmation on 18 September (Introduction); the massacres “occurred on 17 and 18 September 1982” (Lebanon passage); and resolution ES-7/9, in the body summary and in annex II, condemns and orders an exhibit of the massacre “on 17 September 1982”. All three are recorded as given.
  • The Israeli inquiry report’s publication is dated 8 February 1983 in the body and its final report is said in note 6/ to have been published in The Jerusalem Post of 9 February 1983; the two dates are recorded as given and may refer to publication and newspaper publication respectively, which the copy does not state.
  • Resolution 36/120 C is dated 10 December 1982 in the Conference passage (line 287) and 10 December 1981 in annex I and in the resolution 36/120 E passage (10 December 1981); both dates are recorded as given.
  • Resolution 38/79’s preamble list (annex II) prints “25/122 C of 11 December 1980” in a sequence running 32/91 (1977), 33/113 (1978), 34/90 (1979), then 36/147 (1981) and 37/88 (1982), as printed and byte-verified in the text copy; whether the session number is a slip in the study or in the web copy cannot be settled from the copy alone.
  • The Brezhnev plan is called a six-point plan, but the Introduction presents it in a single sentence whose clauses can be counted as five or as six (with inadmissibility and withdrawal counted separately); the copy does not number the points.
  • Spelling and wording slips in the copy, each as printed and byte-verified: “detrioration” in the settlements Commission quotation, “assesssed” in the Commission passage, “General Asssembly” in the Conference passage, “theapartheid régime” in Programme of Action paragraph I.9, “in any not contradicted” in the Special Committee quotation, “resolutions,inter alia” (no space) in the Lebanon passage, and “will be revised” for the Committee’s recommended reversal of the destructive momentum in the Conclusion. Whether each slip is in the study as printed or arose in the web copy cannot be settled from the text copy alone.
  • The body cites the thirty-eighth-session endorsement of the Committee’s recommendations as resolution “A/38/58 A”, as printed; the copy gives no other form of that citation.
  • Annex I’s Programme of Action carries no “B.” heading letter after the Declaration’s “A.”, and annex II’s lettered subheading “A.” appears only before resolution 508 (1982); both are recorded as printed.
  • The African regional preparatory meeting at Arusha is dated 29 March to 12 April 1983 as printed, a span longer than the four-to-five-day spans given for the other four regional meetings; the copy gives no other dates.
  • The study’s own original publication date, place and document symbol are not stated in the copy; the web page version is dated 2019-01-03.

Coverage

lines 1-961 of 961, read in full

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