Durban | Tuesday
THE Non-Aligned Movement’s committee on Palestine (CoP) will send a delegation to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to express solidarity for his country’s plight, a declaration released by the committee on Monday night stated.
The declaration, which followed a three-hour meeting of the committee on Saturday, also called for decisive action against the perpetrators of human rights abuses, the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and the resumption of negotiations.
They called for concrete action on the national, regional and international levels to ensure that Israel respected the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The committee recalled the international liability regarding grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and called for actions against the perpetrators by the United Nations.
Under the convention ”grave breaches” include wilful killing, torture, unlawful deportation and confinement, hostage taking and illegal confiscation of property.
The CoP met during the ministerial meeting of the co-ordinating bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which began in Durban on Saturday.
The three-day NAM ministerial meeting was attended by foreign ministers and officials from 115 member countries and was chaired by South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana-Dlamini Zuma.
The Palestinian issue has topped the agenda.
The CoP meeting was convened to consider the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territory and to consider appropriate action to establish peace in the region.
Ministers from the 15 countries on the CoP have expressed outrage over the current situation in the Middle East and have urged the United Nations to continue to exert pressure on Israel.
President Thabo Mbeki, in his opening address to the meeting on Sunday, also called on the NAM to relentlessly continue to show their support for the Palestinian people.
”The ministers agreed to organise… a delegation to visit Palestine and to meet with President Arafat, in expression of solidarity with the president and people of Palestine,” the declaration stated.
”The ministers expressed outrage and condemned the wilful killing, vast destruction and other atrocities committed by the Israeli occupying forces against the Palestinian people, especially since the start of the Israeli military assault on Palestinian cities and the Palestinian Authority on 29th March 2002.”
The group of ministers expressed concern about Israeli military attacks on holy sites in the occupied territory, in particular the Israeli military siege on the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and welcomed the fact-finding team sent to the area by UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
They further agreed that the establishment of a credible multinational force by the UN could make an important contribution towards final peace in the region.
In this regard they stressed the need for a comprehensive approach in dealing with the situation and increased international involvement.
In the meantime the NAM ministerial meeting was still continuing. A press conference on the final proposals agreed to by the delegates is expected to be held in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The meeting among other things discussed the final agenda for the coming eighth NAM summit of heads of state and government. – Sapa