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| Vol. 2 No. 11 | Table of Contents MEIB Main Page | December 2000 |
 | Document File: Syria |
| The following letter, dated 24 October 2000, was sent by Mikha'il Wahbi, the permanent representative of the Syrian Arab Republic at the UN, to the president of the Security Council in reply to an Israeli letter to the Security Council on 17 October 2000. This is the first official written document affirming Syria's claim that the Israeli-occupied Shab'a farms area belongs to Lebanon. |
The Israeli letter addressed to the president of the Security Council dated 7th October 2000 and issued as Document 969/2000/5 holds Syria and Lebanon responsible for what has happened in south Lebanon.
The letter does not reflect the truth concerning what has happened and does not explain the reasons for this dangerous situation through which our region is living.
Therefore, the permanent delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic at the UN would like to explain the following:
1-What is threatening security and peace in the region is the fact that Israel is continuing to overlook the resolutions of international legitimacy, particularly Resolutions 242 and 338. It has not completed the withdrawal from south Lebanon to the internationally recognized borders, including the Shab'a farms.
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its forcible occupation of the Arab territories that it occupied in June 1967.
2-Israel is continuing to detain dozens of Lebanese citizens and thousands of Palestinians. The Israeli occupation forces are carrying out repressive actions against the civilian population of the occupied territories. Israel continues to build settlements, and its attempts to Judaize Jerusalem have not ceased. All these are factors that are keeping the region in a constant state of explosion. The Israeli practices are a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, of international law and of international humanitarian law.
3-Syria rejects the Israeli accusations and threats contained in the Israeli letter. It is Syria that is eager to treat with respect the resolutions of international legitimacy and to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region. Therefore, Syria holds Israel directly responsible for the escalation of the situation in the Middle East. Syria urges the Security Council to pressure Israel to comply with the implementation of the Security Council resolutions relevant to the Arab-Israeli conflict. These resolutions instruct Israel to withdrawal fully from all the Arab territories occupied in 1967 and to recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
Proceeding from its concern about the peace process that the Israeli government has suspended, the government of the Syrian Arab Republic calls on the international community and the UN, in particular, to take all necessary measures to stop the bloody and oppressive Israeli practices against the Palestinian people and to condemn the Israeli threats made against Syria and Lebanon.
The government of the Syrian Arab Republic would like to reassert once again that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East region cannot be achieved unless Israel is made to comply with the respective resolutions of international legitimacy, the implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the principle of "land for peace" and the full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to the 4th June 1967 borders.
I would like to request the circulation of this letter as a Security Council document.
[Signed] Dr Mikha'il Wahbi, ambassador/ permanent representative of the Syrian Arab Republic.