\n
10.\t<\/span>On 17 February 1983, the Special Committee addressed letters to the Permanent Representatives of Jordan and of the Syrian Arab Republic which read as follows:<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"At its 100th meeting on 10 December 1982, the General Assembly adopted resolution 37\/88 C on the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the population of the Occupied Territories. By this resolution, the General Assembly renewed the mandate of the Special Committee and requested it:\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t'pending the early termination of the Israeli occupation, to continue to investigate Israeli policies and practices in the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, to consult, as appropriate, with the International Committee of the Red Cross in order to ensure the safeguarding of the welfare and human rights of the population of the occupied territories and to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible and whenever the need arises thereafter'.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The General Assembly also requested the Special Committee to continue to investigate the treatment of civilians in detention in the occupied territories.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The Special Committee held a series of meetings from 13 to 15 December 1982 to consider its mandate and to examine information on the situation in the occupied territories. At these meetings the Special Committee decided that it would continue to monitor the situation of human rights in the occupied territories. In view of the developments reported to the Special Committee as having occurred in the occupied territories in the recent months and bearing in mind the request of the General Assembly, the Special Committee considers that it would be of the utmost importance to inform itself, through the best possible sources, of the situation prevailing in the occupied territories.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The Special Committee would appreciate receiving at the earliest convenient time any information available to your Government that may assist it in the execution of its mandate, in particular, the Special Committee would require all information relating to the situation of the civilian population in the Golan Heights."\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
11.\t<\/span>Similar letters were addressed on the same day to the Palestine Liberation Organization and to the International Committee of the Red Cross.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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12.\t<\/span>By letter dated 24 February 1983, the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations Office at Geneva informed the Chairman of the Special Committee that his letter of 17 February 1983 had been forwarded to the competent Jordanian authorities, "with the request to supply all necessary information in order to assist in the execution of the mandate".<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
13.\t<\/span>On 15 April 1983, the Chairman of the Special Committee addressed the following letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations:<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"I have the honor to refer to General Assembly resolution 37\/88 C of 10 December 1982 on the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the occupied Territories. By this resolution, the General Assembly renewed the mandate of the Special Committee. The relevant operative paragraphs read as follows:\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t12.
\t<\/span>Requests<\/u> the Special Committee, pending the early termination of Israeli occupation, to continue to investigate Israeli policies and practices in the Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, to consult, as appropriate, with the International Committee of the Red Cross in order to ensure the safeguarding of the welfare and human rights of the population of the occupied territories and to report to the Secretary-General as soon as possible whenever the need arises thereafter;\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t13.
\t<\/span>Requests<\/u> the Special Committee to continue to investigate the treatment of civilians in detention in Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967;".\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The Special Committee met at United Nations Headquarters from 13 to 15 December 1982 to examine its mandate and to decide on its implementation. The Special Committee decided to approach the Governments concerned with a request for their co-operation and to receive from them any information available to enable the Special Committee to ascertain the reality prevailing in the territories occupied by Israel in June 1967 and still under military occupation. The Special Committee has addressed itself directly to the Governments of Jordan and of the Syrian Arab Republic who have in the past extended their co-operation to the Special Committee.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The Government of Israel has unfortunately taken a negative position with regard to the Special Committee and has withheld its co-operation with the Special Committee since its establishment in 1968. The representative of Israel on the Special Political Committee at the thirty-seventh session reiterated this position. The Special Committee, as it has indicated in its reports to date, has noted that its efforts to secure the co-operation of the Government of Israel have remained without success. In spite of this negative position, which the Special Committee took fully into account in its December meetings, it was felt that the Special Committee should go on exercising its utmost efforts aimed at securing the co-operation of the Government of Israel whose conduct of the occupation is called into question.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"The Special Committee has requested me to seek your intervention once again in an effort to convince the Israeli authorities to co-operate with the Special Committee. The Special Committee will hold its next series of meetings at Geneva from 16 to 27 May 1983. During that period, should the situation warrant, the Special Committee will conduct hearings possibly also in Amman and Damascus. During these meetings, the Special Committee will examine any follow-up that may have been given to its request for co-operation from the Governments concerned, including the request formulated in this letter."\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
14.\t<\/span>On 20 April 1983, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and General Assembly Affairs addressed a letter to the Chairman of the Special Committee, which reads as follows:<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"On behalf of the Secretary-General, I wish to thank you for your letter of 15 April 1983 concerning the renewal of the mandate of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the occupied Territories and the description of its plan of work for 1983.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t"As requested in your letter, we have once again approached the Israeli authorities to seek their co-operation with the Special Committee. I regret to inform you that we have been advised by a representative of the Israeli Government that its well-known position remains unchanged."\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
15.\t<\/span>The Special Committee held a series of meetings at Geneva, Amman, Damascus and Rafah from 30 May to 11 June 1983. At those meetings the Special Committee examined information on developments occurring in the occupied territories between November 1982 and April 1983. It had before it a number of communications addressed to it by Governments, organizations and individuals in connection with its mandate. The Special Committee examined several letters addressed to it by the Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation organization (PLO) at Geneva. In addition, the Special Committee took note of a number of letters addressed to the Secretary-General by the Permanent Representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic on matters related to its report. The Special Committee heard testimony of persons living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, in regard to the situation in those territories.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
16.\t<\/span>In Damascus the Special Committee conducted consultations with His Excellency Mr. H. Kelani on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in regard to the situation of the occupied Syrian territory.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
17.\t<\/span>The Permanent Representative of Egypt transmitted the request of his Government to the Special Committee to visit the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the course of the mission that it was undertaking at that time, to investigate Israeli practices regarding Palestinian refugees in Egypt. The Special Committee accordingly visited Rafah, Egypt, on 10 June 1983 to undertake hearings to investigate the practices referred to by the Government of Egypt.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
18.\t<\/span>The Special Committee convened again from 8 August to 19 August 1983. In the course of its meetings it examined communications addressed to the Special Committee or referred to it concerning the situation in the occupied territories, including petitions addressed to the Secretary-General and to the Committee by civilians in the occupied territories concerning their plight resulting from certain measures taken by the occupation authorities. The Committee considered information on the occupied territories from May to July 1983 and records of testimony heard in the course of its previous series of meetings. The Committee considered and adopted a draft report reflecting the situation of human rights in the occupied territories during the period since the date of the adoption of its last report on 19 August 1983 contained in the present document.<\/p><\/div>\n\n
III. MANDATE<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
19.\t<\/span>The General Assembly, in its resolution 2443 (XXIII) entitled "Respect for and implementation of human rights in occupied territories", decided to establish a Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the occupied Territories, composed of three Member States.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
20.\t<\/span>The mandate of the Special Committee, as set out in the above resolution, was "to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories".<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
21.\t<\/span>In interpreting its mandate, the Special Committee determined that:<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(a)\t<\/span>The territories to be considered as occupied territories referred to the areas under Israeli occupation, namely, the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Following the implementation of the Egyptian-Israeli Agreement on Disengagement of Forces of 18 January 1974 and the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Forces of 31 May 1974, the demarcation of the areas under occupation was altered as indicated in the maps attached to those agreements. The areas of Egyptian territory under Israeli military occupation were further modified in accordance with the Treaty of Peace between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel which was signed on 26 March 1979 and which came into force on 25 April 1979. On 25 April 1982, the Egyptian territory remaining under Israeli military occupation was restituted to the Government of Egypt in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned agreement. Thus, for the purposes of the present report, the territories to be considered as occupied territories are those remaining under Israeli occupation, namely, the Golan Heights, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip;<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(b)\t<\/span>The persons covered by resolution 2443 (XXIII) and therefore the subject of the investigation of the Special Committee were the civilian population residing in the areas occupied as a result of the hostilities of June 1967 and those persons normally resident in the areas that were under occupation but who had left those areas because of the hostilities. However, the Committee noted that resolution 2443 (XXIII) referred to the "population" without any qualification as to any segment of the inhabitants of the occupied territories;<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(c)\t<\/span>The "human rights" of the population of the occupied territories consisted of two elements, namely, those rights which the Security Council referred to as "essential and inalienable human rights" in its <\/span>resolution 237 (1967)<\/a> of 14 June 1967 and, secondly, those rights which found their basis in the protection afforded by international law in particular circumstances such as military occupation and, in the case of prisoners of war, capture. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 3005 (XXVII), the Special Committee was also required to investigate allegations concerning the exploitation and the looting of the resources of the occupied territories; the pillaging of the archaeological and cultural heritage of the occupied territories; and interference in the freedom of worship in the Holy Places of the occupied territories;<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(d)\t<\/span>The "policies" and "practices" affecting human rights that came within the scope of investigation by the Special Committee referred, in the case of "policies", to any course of action consciously adopted and pursued by the Government of Israel as part of its declared or undeclared intent) while "practices" referred to those actions which, irrespective of whether or not they were in implementation of a policy, reflected a pattern of behavior on the part of the Israeli authorities towards the Arab population in the occupied areas.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
22.\t<\/span>Since its inception the Special Committee has relied on the following international instruments in interpreting and carrying out its mandate:<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(a)\t<\/span>The Charter of the United Nations;<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(b)\t<\/span>The Universal Declaration of Human Rights;<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(c)\t<\/span>The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949; 4<\/u>\/<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(d)\t<\/span>The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, of 12 August 1949; 5<\/u>\/<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(e)\t<\/span>The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, of 14 May 1954; 6<\/u>\/<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(f)\t<\/span>The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land; 7<\/u>\/<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n
\t<\/span>(g)\t<\/span>The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 8<\/u>\/<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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23.\t<\/span>The Special Committee has also relied on those resolutions relevant to the situation of civilians in the occupied territories adopted by United Nations organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Commission on Human Rights, as well as the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization.<\/p><\/div>\n\n
IV. INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
24.\t<\/span>In the course of carrying out its mandate, the Special Committee has taken note of information reaching it through a variety of sources, such as individuals, organizations and Governments. At its meetings, the Committee had before it several communications addressed to it, directly or referred to it by the Secretary-General, from sources inside the occupied territories, as well as from several parts of the world. Where necessary, the Committee has followed up information contained in these communications.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
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25.\t<\/span>The Special Committee has taken particular care to rely on information that has not been contradicted by the Government of Israel or that is commonly considered as reliable by that Government.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
\n