At the request of the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Mr. Yasser Arafat and in response to the invitation addressed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers met in Amman on 28 and 29 Sha'aban 1400 H. corresponding to 11 and 12 July 1980, to consider the current situation in occupied Palestine.

Inaugurating the Session, His Majesty King Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, outlined, in his address, the framework of the Islamic action to be undertaken in the light of the current difficult conditions of the Palestine Question, and indicated the components and objectives of such action. His Majesty declared that the primary and fundamental condition for a just peace was the liberation of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, the liberation of Al Quds (Jerusalem) and the recovery of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people.

In conclusion, His Majesty said: "The biggest challenge levelled at the Islamic Umma is there, before us, in Palestine and around it, and should awaken in the hearts of the true believers, the desire to sacrifice, to struggle and to toil".

The Conference decided to consider the Royal address an official document of the Conference.

His Excellency Habib Al Chatty, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, delivered an address in which he underlined that the vicious onslaught currently waged against the Palestinian people confirmed the terrorist nature which has characterized Zionism, since its inception. He said that the hundreds of Resolutions adopted by the Organisation would not restore one inch of the territory of Palestine unless they were implemented. This dangerous situation, he added, called for practical measures to foil the dreadful Zionist design and make its supporters realize the serious danger which threatens the world, as a result of perpetuating the new conditions created by Israel in the occupied territories.

After his election to the Chairmanship of the Extraordinary Session, His Excellency Marwan Al Kassem, Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, delivered an address in which he indicated that the real pre-requisite must be action and not the mere adoption of Resolutions as has been our practice. He emphasized the need for a unified Islamic position on clear-cut bases, that is able to express our goals by virtue of stemming from our own strength.

The speakers, among Heads of delegations, reviewed the current situation in Palestine and the occupied Arab territories. They condemned the latest Israeli measures and outrageous practices, in particular developments in Al Quds (Jerusalem), Al-Khalil (Hebron) and elsewhere, considering these measures and practices a serious escalation of dangers in the region and a blatant violation of all Islamic and international Charters and Resolutions.

The debate was started by the Head of the Political Section of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Brother Farouk Kaddoumi, who explained in great detail the current Zionist designs in occupied Palestine and its serious escalation of systematic official terrorism practiced by the occupation authorities against the Palestinian people, in particular after the conclusion of the Camp David Accords and the Egyptian-Israeli Treaty; and the frantic attempts by the parties to the Camp David Accords to carry through the autonomy conspiracy which seeks to liquidate the Palestine question and circumvent the inalienable national rights of its people. He reaffirmed the determination of the Palestinian revolution to shoulder its national, regional and Islamic responsibilities, in defence of the homeland and the Holy Places. He added that the United States abetted and supported the authorities of the Zionist entity in their fascist, racist practices, and called upon the Conference to take practical measures whereby to support the struggle and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, counter the designs of the parties to the Camp David Accords and support the Palestine question at international and Islamic levels.

The Conference also heard statements by Heads of Islamic delegations who expressed their absolute solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. They commended the valiant resistance of the Palestinian people within the occupied homeland in their confr6ntation with Israeli occupation, foiling the enemy's conspiracies and designs, defending their Holy Places, abiding by their right to repatriation, to self determination and to establish their independent State on their national territory.

The Conference also heard statements by the militant brothers Fahd El Kawasma, Mayor of Al Khalil (Hebron), Mohammed Hassan Malham, Mayor of Halhoul, Sheikh Ragab el Tamimi, Kadi Shari'i of Al-Khalil (Hebron), who explained, in detail to the members of the Conference, the drastic conditions endured by the Palestinian people and the fascist racist practices to which they were subjected. They reaffirmed that the Palestinian people rejected the autonomy conspiracy and the designs of the parties to the Camp David Accords. They called upon Islamic States and peoples to shoulder their responsibilities in respect of the primary cause of the Islamic Ummah, that of Palestine, and take the measures likely to ensure the steadfast stand of the Palestinian people and safeguard their Holy Places.

Dr. Zuhair Malhas, the Jordanian Minister of Health, addressing the Conference on behalf of the Ministers of Health of the East Mediterranean region, emphasized the need for a sustained action to secure the transfer of the regional office of the World Health Organisation from Alexandria to Amman, reaffirming the determination of the Ministers of Health to follow-up the matter at international level since the Egyptian regime became involved in the Camp David conspiracy.

After consideration of the latest developments in occupied Palestine, and having heard various proposals and views and examined the various working papers submitted, the Conference adopted its resolutions in which it reaffirmed the following:

1. The Conference emphasized the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland, their right to self-determination without outside interference, their right to establish their independent state over their national territory, and their right to pursue their legitimate struggle to liberate their homeland and regain their rights, in accordance with U.N. resolutions, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people inside and outside the occupied Arab land.

2. The Conference reaffirmed the resolutions of previous Islamic Conferences, in particular, the resolutions adopted by the Eleventh Session held in Islamabad on the Palestine Question and Al Quds Al Sharif (Holy City of Jerusalem). It also emphasized that just peace in the Middle East cannot be established without the total and unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from all the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, primarily Al Quds (Jerusalem) the capital of Palestine; nor without enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable national rights according to U.N. resolutions adopted in this respect, in particular Resolutions 3236 and 3237.

3. The Conference condemned the racist, expansionist, and terrorist policies and practices perpetrated officially and systematically, by the Zionist authorities in Occupied Palestine. The Conference looked at those policies and practices as a challenge to the will of the Muslim world and a flagrant violation of international laws. In this respect, the Conference firmly considered any country supporting the Zionist aggression against the Palestinian people and the Islamic Holy Places in Palestine an enemy of Islam and Muslims.

4. The Conference reaffirmed the commitment of all Islamic states to sever all forms of relations with any country that supports, or contributes to the implementation of Israel's decision to annex Al Quds Al Sharif (Jerusalem) and declare it the capital of the Zionist entity; or transfer its embassy to Al Quds (Jerusalem).

The Conference called on all countries that had established diplomatic missions in Al Quds (Jerusalem) to transfer them outside the City. The Islamic States, at the Twelfth Islamic Conference, would consider the adoption of measures, including the severing of diplomatic relations, against countries that did not respond to such a call.

5. The Conference decided to set up a committee composed of five Legal experts to consider measures to be adopted against the crimes perpetrated by the Zionist enemy, as a War Criminal, in occupied Palestine.

6. The Conference reaffirmed the commitment of Member States to extend increasing support to Palestinian people to enable them to stand steadfast in their homeland; and called upon Islamic peoples to contribute to that support.

7. The Conference condemned the Zionist enemy for its repeated aggressions against Lebanon in particular South Lebanon, and reaffirmed its support to the territorial integrity of Lebanon, its national unity, independence, sovereignty and the exercise of its legitimate authority over the entire territory of Lebanon.

8. The Conference called upon the U.N. General Assembly to consider, at its Special Session on Palestine, ways and means to secure the implementation of the resolutions it had adopted on the Palestine question, including the imposition of sanctions, in accordance with Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, and in particular Resolution 3236 which provided a basis for the solution of the Palestine question, since the Security Council had failed to put these resolutions into effect.

9. The Conference invited the European Community to suspend the application of its bilateral and collective economic agreements with Israel, in pursuance of the Community's pledge that these agreements would not be enforced in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, and with a view to compelling Israel to withdraw from these territories.

10. The Conference condemned the policy of the U.S. that supports the aggressive and settlement practices perpetrated by Israel in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, and condemned the pro-Israel positions of the United States at international fora against Palestinian rights, in a manner conflicting with the U.N. Charter, the U.N. General Assembly's resolutions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Second Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers convened at the request of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in Amman, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, on 28th and 29th Shaaban, 1400 H. (11-12 July, 1980)

PROCEEDING from the objectives and principles enshrined in the Charter of the Islamic Conference, on the basis of which the Organization of the Islamic Conference was established to strengthen Islamic solidarity, coordinate action with a view to safeguarding Islamic Holy Places and liberating them, support the struggle of the Palestinian people, and help them recover their rights and liberate their territory;

GUIDED by the resolutions adopted by the First and Second Islamic Summit Conferences, held in Rabat and Lahore respectively, as well as by all the resolutions adopted by the Islamic Conference and AI-Quds Committee on the question of Palestine and AI-Quds AI-Sharif (Holy Jerusalem) deemed by the Islamic Conference to be the Prime cause of Islam and Muslims;

CONSIDERING the grave escalation of the Israeli practices in the occupied Arab Territories, the recrudescence of Israeli terrorism against Arab citizens to the extent of assassination and physical liquidation, the increased collective sanctions and the intensification of settlements policy.

AFFIRMING the right of the Palestinian people to pursue their struggle in all its military, political and material forms, and by every possible means to recover their inalienable national rights; and that the recovery of these rights and the liberation of Palestinian and Arab occupied territories, primarily Al-Quds constitute a fundamental prerequisite for the establishment of a just peace in the Middle East;

EXPRESSING its categorical rejection of all aggression policies and measures persistently practised by the Zionist racist enemy against the Palestinian people, especially in the capital of their homeland, Al Quds Alsharif (Holy Jerusalem), which constitutes a flagrant defiance of the will and rights of the Palestinian people and those of the Arab and Islamic nations, as well, and a deliberate and sustained violation of the will of the international community, international law and the U.N. Charter and resolutions;

CONVINCED that it has become opportune to apply the deterrent measures provided for in Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter against Israel, considering its persistent violations of the principles of the Charter, its refusal to implement the international resolutions, its sustained aggression against the Palestinian people and the occupation of their homeland:

1. REAFFIRMS the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, in particular;

- their right to the territory of their homeland, Palestine;

- their right to return to their homeland and recover their property as stipulated by U.N. resolutions;

- their right to selfAetermination, without foreign interference;

- their right to exercise freely their sovereignty over the territory of their homeland, Palestine, and to establish their independent national state on their national soil.

2. REAFFIRMS the right of the Palestinian people to wage their legitimate struggle with a view to liberating their homeland and recovering their inalienable national rights in accordance with United Nations Resolutions in this respect and, to resort to every possible means, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, their sole legitimate representative inside and outside the occupied homeland;

3. REAFFIRMS its commitment to agree upon principles and resolutions by previous Islamic Conferences, and the Tenth Conference in Islamabad, in particular, concerning the Palestine Question and Al Quds Al Sharif (Jerusalem) and supports the principle that just peace in the Middle East can never be established except on the basis of enabling the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable national rights, the full and unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli enemy from all the Palestinian and Arab occupied territories, including Al Quds Alsharif (Holy City of Jerusalem);

4. REAFFIRMS:

a) that all official and systematic racist, expansionist, terrorist policies and practices perpetuated by the Israeli enemy against the Palestinian people in the occupied homeland;

b) that its settlement programmes and measures, the establishment of settlements, the Judaization of the Palestinian and Arab occupied territories, primarily Al Quds (Jerusalem); its persistent and deliberate attempts to alter the political, legal, demographic, economic, social, cultural, civilizational and historic character;

c) that its policies and practices of aggression seeking to eradicate national identity in occupied Palestine, to disrupt the unity of the Palestinian people and their national movement by oppression, terrorism, killing, assassination, impris6nment, detention torture, eviction, banishment, restriction of public and private liberties, curfews, coercion, collective penalties, demolition and destruction of houses, eviction by force of citizens from their homes and property, expropriation of property, seizure and judaization of lands constitute a defiance of the will of the Islamic Umma and a flagrant violation of the principles of the United Nations resolutions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1949 Geneva conventions.

5. CONVINCED that the struggle against Zionism is a cultural and civilizational conflict waged against the Islamic Umma as a whole it reaffirms the principle of Islamic solidarity and unity in the face of Zionist aggression and Israeli policies and practices, on the basis that the liberation of Al Quds (Jerusalem) and of the Palestinian and Arab occupied territories is the focal cause of Islam and Muslims and that the confrontation of Zionist designs and covetousness is the responsibility of all Islamic States and Peoples;

6. CONSIDERS that the Camp David Accord and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty are a conspiracy against the Arab nature of Al Quds (Jerusalem) and of the occupied Arab territories, and categorically rejects these Accords and Treaty, and their consequences and refuses to recognize separate and partial settlements of the Palestinian question;

It considers the Egyptian military provocations against the socialist people's Libyan Arab Jamihiriya a link in the Camp David design and a collusion between the parties to that Agreement, and expresses its solidarity with the people of the Jamahiriya.

RECALLING all Islamic, Arab, African, non-aligned and international resolutions calling upon the Israeli enemy to refrain from bringing any changes to the character of Al Quds Al Sharif;

RECALLING the provisions of Resolution No. 4/11 adopted by the Eleventh Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers on Al Quds Al Sharif, in particular paragraph 4;

CONSIDERING the recent Israeli measures seeking to change the legal status of the city of Al Quds (Jerusalem), and declare it the capital of its Zionist entity;

REAFFIRMS:

1. THE COMMITMENT of Member States to implement all previous Islamic resolutions on the city of Al Quds Al Sharif;

2. STRONGLY REAFFIRMS the commitment of all Islamic peoples and states to their legitimate sacred right to the city of Al Quds Al Sharif, due to the great religious, political, cultural and hist6ric significance of the Holy City and the bonds linking Muslims to it;

3. REAFFIRMS the commitment of all Islamic States to sever all kinds of relations with any country supporting the decision of the Israeli enemy to annex the city of M Quds Al Sharif and consider it as its capital, or recognize that decision or contribute to its implementation or move its embassy to the Holy City;

CALLS upon all countries which have established diplomatic missions in Jerusalem, namely Holland, Costa-Rica, Columbia, Bolivia, Chile, Domica, Ecuador, San Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Panama, Uruguay, and Venezuela to transfer them out of the city. In case of their non-compliance, Islamic States, at the Twelfth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, shall consider political and economic measures towards them, including the severing of diplomatic relations;

4. CONDEMNS the Israeli authorities for their persistent and repeated illegal acts against archeological sites and Holy Places in the city, defacing and looking them with a view to obliterating their Arab and Islamic character, and appeals to Islamic States to exert efforts to safeguard Islamic heritage in Al Quds Al Sharif and the occupied Arab territories;

5. CONDEMNS the continued Israeli excavations beneath the western and southern parts of the Haram Quds al Sharif, and elsewhere in the Old City, which seriously jeopardizes the safety of the Holy Places and exposes them to dilapidation and ruin;

6. APPEALS TO Member States to cover the capital of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Fund as soon as possible;

7. APPEALS TO Member States to start allocating real estate and funds in favour of Al Quds (Jerusalem) Fund Waqf;

8. APPEALS TO Member States to extend financial support to the Masjid Al Aqsa Reconstruction Committee through Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Fund.

1. REJECTS AND CONDEMNS all the above mentioned Israeli policies and practices and declares them null, void and illegal and, under no circumstances, can their immediate and future effects and consequences be recognised, and that it will endeavour to the best of its abilities to void and annul them;

2. STRONGLY CONDEMNS Israel for its repeated aggressions against Lebanon, in particular South Lebanon, and calls upon Member States to support Lebanon at the United Nations and international fora with a view to putting an end to this aggression and compelling Israel to withdraw from the Lebanese territory it has occupied, and to implement the Security Council resolutions adopted in this regard. It also reaffirms its support to the territorial integrity of Lebanon, its national unity, independence, sovereignty and the exercise of its legitimate authority over the entire territory of Lebanon;

3. THE POLICIES and criminal practices of the racist zionist enemy aim at uprooting the Palestinian. people and compelling them to emmigrate from their occupied homeland; Palestine, usurping their country by means of terrorism, coercion and force, while persisting in the establishment and expansion of settlements, and increasing their number, throughout the length and breadth of Palestine, and bringing in new Zionist immigrants to settle in Palestine and judaize it, as manifested by the recent announcement of a draft statute law to the effect that the city of Al Quds Al Sharif be the eternal unified capital of the racist Zionist entity in occupied Palestine;

The Conference therefore, declares that these policies, measures and methods constitute a "War Crime" which call for drastic and immediate measures at the international level against the Israeli enemy at the level of War Criminal;

It mandates the Secretary General to cooperate with a committee composed of five legal experts chosen, in consultation with the Governments of member countries in order to consider measures and procedures to be adopted in this regards;

4. ISLAMIC STATES pledge themselves to extend the necessary support and increase it so as to enable the Arab Palestinian people to stand steadfast in their homeland;

5. APPEALS TO nations throughout the world to bring pressure to bear so that Israel repatriate the exiled, in implementation of international resolutions adopted in this respect, the most recent being Security Council Resolution 469 of 8-5-1980;

6. CALLS UPON Islamic peoples to earmark the legal percentage of Zakat "for the sake of Allah", in favour of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and entrust the Committees in support of Palestine with this task, in consonance with the ways and means favoured by each country;

7. ENCOURAGES the marketing of agricultural products of the occupied Arab territories on Islamic markets and provide needed facilities to reinforce their firm stand;

8. INVITES Islamic cities to establish fraternal relations with the cities of Palestine and take relevant measures, through the General Secretariat of the Islamic Conference and the Organization of Islamic Cities.

9. PROVIDE educational opportunities and university scholarships to students of the occupied Arab land in the universities of the Islamic Umma and that Islamic Universities sponsor Palestinian universities in the occupied homeland;

10. DECIDES to pursue its endeavours in all fields, and on the widest international level, especially within the framework of the Organization of African Unity, the Non-aligned Movement and the United Nations, with the objective of rallying the widest support of countries to the focal cause of Palestine question - and securing the largest recognition of the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization;

11. CALLS UPON the U.N. General Assembly to consider, at its Emergency Session on Palestine, ways and means whereby to secure the implementation of its resolutions on the Palestine question, including the imposition of sanctions, in accordance with Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, in particular Resolution 3236 which provides a basis for the solution of the Palestine question, since the Security Council has failed to put these resolutions into effect;

12. CALLS UPON the European Community to suspend the application of its bilateral and collective economic agreements with Israel, in pursuance of the Community's pledge that these agreements would not be enforced in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories and with a view to compelling Israel into withdrawing from these territories;

13. CALLS UPON all countries throughout the world to refrain from extending any assistance to Israel unless it complies with Security Council Resolutions 446 of 1979 and 465 of 1980, and unless it dismantles its settlements established in the Occupied Palestinian and Arab territories;

14. a) THE GENERAL Secretariat of the Conference, as well as Member States, shall draw up a list of individuals, institutions, and companies that support the Israeli aggression so that they could be contacted, warned and called upon to desist from extending such support;

b) URGES all Islamic States to impose the Arab boycott against Israel and to coordinate their efforts in this respect with other Third World countries with a view to imposing the boycott against all racist regimes, particularly in Occupied Palestine and Southern Africa;

15. a) The Conference CONDEMNS the U.S. Policy which favours Israeli occupation authorities persisting in establishing settlements and waging aggressions in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, and condemns the stands taken by the United States at international fora in favour of Israel and against Palestinian rights, in a manner non-complying with the U.N. Charter, the U.N. General Assembly resolutions and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights;

b) Member States, individually, and the Chairman of the Conference, together with the General Secretariat, shall lodge an official complaint with the United States for its policy which supports Israel and denies the natural rights of the Palestinian people, and they shall warn it against the consequences of such a policy on its relations with Islamic governments and peoples, and request it to stop its material and moral support to Israel in the military and political fields and to adopt practical measures likely to secure the implementation of resolutions adopted by the international community and deter Israel from violating these resolutions;

16. The Conference decides that Islamic representation at the Special Emergency Session of the U.N. General Assembly on the Palestine question shall be at ministerial level, and urges all urges friendly throughout the world to contribute positively to the proceedings of this special session.

At the request of the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and in response to the invitation addressed by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers met in Amman on 28 and 29 Sha3aban 1400 H. corresponding to 11 and 12 July 1980, to consider the current situation in occupied Palestine.

The Session was attended by delegations of the following Member States: People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, State of Bahrain, People's Republic of Bangladesh, United Republic of Cameroun, Republic of Chad, Federal Islamic Republic of Comoro, Republic of Djibouti, Republic of Gabon, Republic of the Gambia, Popular Revolutionary Republic of Guinea, Republic of Guinea Bissau, Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Iraq, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, State of Kuwait, Republic of Lebanon, Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Republic of Maldives, Republic of Mali, Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Kingdom of Morocco, Republic of Niger, Sultanate of Oman, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Palestine (P.L.O), State of Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Republic of Senegal, Democratic Republic of Somalia, Democratic Republic of Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Uganda, State of United Arab Emirates, Republic of Upper Volta, Yemen Arab Republic, Yemen People's Democratic Republic.

At the opening ceremony of the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, His Majesty King Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, delivered an opening address in which His Majesty outlined the framework of Islamic action, in the light of the current disastrous developments in the Palestinian question.

His Majesty pointed out that Zionism was proceeding with the implementation of its conspiracies, bringing in Zionist fanatics from all over the world, and settling them in Palestine, the pulsating heart of Arabism and Islam. He also pointed out that the tragedy was being aggravated, by the absence of a unified Arab and Islamic stand, and the lack of a clear-cut comprehensive strategy, to define the potentials of Arabs and Muslims and guide them to straight path that would lead to the recovery of their land and their Holy Places.

Stressing the Islamic and Arab Character of Palestine, His Majesty added that this meeting was held at the apex of Israel's challenges levelled at Muslims, and of its illegal and inhuman practices. It is persisted in overt eviction and coercion of the Palestinian people and was actively perpetuating its policy of defacing, obliterating and judaization of Islamic civilization, and annexation of Arab territories.

His Majesty stated that the liberation of the occupied Arab territories was the fundamental prerequisite for a just peace and that the restoration of Al Quds (Jerusalem) to Arab sovereignty was the key to a just solution of the whole issue, since Al Quds (Jerusalem) and Palestine represented the joint cultural heritage of Arabs and Muslims.

In conclusion, His Majesty said, "The greatest challenge confronting the Muslim Ummah lies, there, in Palestine and around it, and should awaken in the hearts of the true believers, the will to sacrifice and to struggle and to toil."

On behalf of the Arab, Asian and African countries, the Heads of the Delegations of Algeria, Indonesia and Nigeria delivered addresses in reply to the Royal address. They expressed their thanks and gratitude to His Majesty and to the Government and people of Jordan.

The Chairman of the Eleventh Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, His Excellency Mr. Agha Shahi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, informed the Extraordinary Session of the result of the Security Council meeting from 24 to 30 June, 1980, which was convened under the mandate of the Eleventh Session He referred to his statement at the Security Council, made on behalf of the 39 member states, which called upon the Security Council to declare the annulment of any Israeli measures purporting to alter the legal status and historical character of Al Quds Al Sharif and in the event of continued defiance by Israel to impose against it the sanctions stipulated in Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. He had also informed the Security Council of the commitment of member states of the Islamic Conference to severance of diplomatic relations with any country promoting the Israeli design to annex Al Quds Al Sharif by recognising the Holy City as the Israeli capital.

His Excellency Mr. Agha Shahi raised the question: Are the Palestinians to wait indefinitely while Israel proceeds inexorably with its plans of annexation of the Palestinian homeland and Al Quds Al Sharif, for the world to generate the necessary pressure to move Israel towards the establishment of lasting peace based on recognition of the national rights of the Palestinian people? He said that the Islamic world was not without the means of persuading the supporters of Israel to exert themselves to compel a change in the colonial and expansionist policies of Israel. However, he stated that the political and economic strategy towards compelling Israel to vacate its aggression and occupation, would continue to elude the Islamic world unless it was able to forge the unity of will and action necessary for the recovery of its historical, national and Islamic rights from Zionist usurpation.

He briefly apprised the Extraordinary Session of the activities of the Standing Committee of Islamic Conference on Afghanistan and its readiness to enter into a dialogue with the Kabul authorities to be represented through their political party, and within the framework of the relevant resolution of the Islamic Conference. The Committee had made it clear that a political solution must be based on the aspirations of the Afghan people and respect for the national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan, under a government acceptable to its people and pledged to a policy of non-alignment and friendship with all its neighbours.

His Excellency Habib Al Shatti, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference then took the floor to deliver his speech. He said the fierce onslaught waged against the Palestinian people, bore witness to the terrorism that had characterised Zionism, since the forties. This onslaught was part of a plan devised by Israeli authorities in collaboration with world Zionism.

He added that the Zionist occupation authorities were currently engaged in a race against time to implement the settlement and Judaization policies as soon as possible, because they expected the failure of the so-called autonomy currently negotiated by the Camp David Parties. The Israeli authorities were aware that the Palestine Arabs unanimously rejected that autonomy. They also sensed the increasing Israeli isolation within the international arena and the cooling of support forthcoming from traditionally sympathetic groups. Furthermore, the Zionist government regarded the American elections as providing a propitious opportunity that might not recur, to implement its settlement policy.

He indicated that the world at large was aware of the existence of extremist and terrorist organisations whose establishment was approved and encouraged by the Israeli authorities, seeking to create an irreversible fait accompli. Such acts could only be countered by devising effective measures of a calibre similar to that of the designs of the Zionist enemy. The issue was extremely dangerous and they could not ignore the fact that what was happening in southern Lebanon was only part of the Israeli plan which sought to shake the stability of the whole region.

He added that hundreds of resolutions adopted by one organisation or another could never restore an inch of Palestinian territory unless they were implemented.

This grave situation made incumbent upon us to work out practical measures whereby to foil the fearful Zionist design and make the supporters of the enemy realize the gravity of the dangers looming over the world as a result of the new situation created by Israel in the occupied territories.

The whole world sympathizes with the rights of the Palestinian people, with the exception of the United States, which found in an Arab regime, not only a support for its unconditional pro-Israeli policy, but also for Begin's criminal tendency which is supported by the United States more than by the Zionist circles in Israel itself.

After his election as Chairman of the Extraordinary Session, the Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Mr. Marwan El Kassem delivered a speech in which he said that the main concern of this Conference, as of past conferences, was to liberate Al Quds and the occupied Arab land. This was the reaction following the measures taken by Israel in Al Quds, namely to annex it and make it the Israeli capital. It was also the reaction to events in the occupied Arab territories: terrorism, eviction, establishment of settlements and judaisation action was called for, and not resolutions which seemed to have become the sole objective.

He stressed the efforts exerted by Jordan to consolidate Arab resistance in the occupied Arab territories, and his Country's successful attempts at the international level to bring about a favourable change in the attitude of some states.

The Jordanian Foreign Minister emphasized the need for a unified Arab stand based on clear principles, that could express the aims which should rely for their achievement on the inherent strength of the Arabs themselves. The Conference resumed its meetings in camera and elected two Vice-hairmen: His Excellency the Foreign Minister of Indonesia Mr. Muchtar Kusumaatmadja as First Vice-Chairman, and His Excellency the Foreign Minister of Niger Mr. Dauda Diallo as Second Vice-Chairman.

It was a tradition for the Chairman of the Ordinary Session to be the Rapporteur of the following session. However, the rapporteur yielded his post to the Palestine Liberation Organisation since the Extraordinary Session was devoted to the Palestine Question and was convened at the request of the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Organisation adding that it was an expression by Pakistan of its solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle.

The conference then considered its agenda and the Chairman pointed out that it was a one-item agenda: the new situation in occupied Palestine and the measures which must be adopted to deal with it.

According to the provisions of the rules of procedure of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference which stipulate: "The Agenda of the Extraordinary Sessions is limited to items for which the Conference was called to convene," the Conference adopted its agenda.

The Chairman called for views on the membership of the Drafting Committee, and the Conference elected Jordan as Chairman and the following countries as members: The Palestine Liberation Organisation - Senegal - Pakistan - Guinea - Mali -Syria - Iraq.

It was stated that the Drafting Committee was open to all delegations and the committee was requested to meet in order to discuss the draft resolutions prior to their presentation to the Plenary.

At the proposal of the Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed, the Conference unanimously agreed, by acclamation to consider the Address of His Majesty King Hussein an official document of the Conference.

During the general debate, the heads of delegations reviewed the current situation in Palestine and the other occupied Arab territories and condemned the recent Israeli measures and repressive practices, in particular events in Al Quds. They considered that these practices and procedures were a dangerous escalation by the Zionist enemy of an originally critical situation and a flagrant violation of all international and Islamic Charters and resolutions, and called for the adoption of effective measures.

The Conference also heard statements by the militant brothers Fahd Al Kawasma, Mayor of Al Khalil (Hebron), Mohammad Hassan Malham, Sheikh Ragab Al Tamimi, Kadi Shari'I of Al Khalil (Hebron), who explained in detail to the members of the Conference the drastic conditions endured by the Palestinian people and the fascist racist practices to which they were subjected, reaffirming that the Palestinian people rejected the autonomy conspiracy and the designs of the parties to the Camp David Accords. They called upon Islamic States and peoples' debate to shoulder their responsibilities in full in respect of the primary cause of the Islamic Ummah, that of Palestine, and take the measures likely to ensure the steadfast stand of the Palestinian people and safeguard their Holy Places.

Dr. Zuhair Malhas, the Jordanian Minister of Health, addressing the Conference on behalf of the Ministers of Health of the East Mediterranean Region, emphasized the need for a sustained action to secure the transfer of the regional office of the World Health Organisation from Alexandria to Amman, reaffirming the determination of the Ministers of Health to follow up the matter at international level after the Egyptian regime had involved itself in the Camp David conspiracy.

At the conclusion of its deliberations, the Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Conference adopted a resolution on the Palestinian question, which provided for the following:

1. It reaffirmed the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, in particular their right to return to their homeland and recover their property, their right to self-determination without outside interference, their right to exercise freely their sovereignty over the territory of their homeland, and establish their independent state on their national territory.

2. It reaffirmed the right of the Palestinian people to pursue their legitimate struggle and recover their national inalienable rights, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, inside and outside the occupied homeland.

3. It emphasized that just peace in the Middle East area could not be achieved unless the Palestinian people could exercise their national inalienable rights and the Israeli enemy withdraw from all the Palestinian and Arab occupied territories, including Al Quds Al Sharif (Holy City of Jerusalem).

4. It reaffirmed that all official and systematic terrorist policies and practices, the settlement measures, the judaization of Al Quds (Jerusalem), oppression, terrorism, assassination, imprisonment and eviction raised a challenge to the will of the Islamic nation, and constituted a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

5. It emphasized the principle of Islamic solidarity in the face of Zionist aggression.

6. It considered the Camp David Accords and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty a conspiracy against the future of Al Quds (Jerusalem) and the occupied Arab territories. These Accords and Treaty should be rejected and countered as well as any unilateral and partial settlement of the Palestine question.

In respect of Al Quds, the Conference reaffirmed Resolution No. 4/11/P adopted at the Islamabad Conference and emphasized the commitment of all Islamic peoples and states to their legitimate sacred right to the city of Al Quds Al Sharif, and their proposal to sever relations with any country that supported the decision of the Israeli enemy to annex Al Quds (Jerusalem) and declare it its capital.

It called upon countries which had established their diplomatic missions in Al Quds (Jerusalem) to transfer them elsewhere. In case of their non-compliance, the Islamic countries would consider, at their Twelfth Conference, the measures to be applied to these countries, including the severing of diplomatic relations.

It also condemned the persistence of Israeli authorities in their continuous aggressions on archaeological sites and Holy Places in the city, and for the excavation operations and attempts at changing their Arab Islamic character.

It urged Member States to cover the capital of Al Quds (Jerusalem) Fund and to allocate the necessary funds to the Waqf of the Fund.

In the field of practical measures, the Conference declared that it considered illegal all Israeli policies and practices in occupied Palestine and as such, null and void.

It strongly condemned Israel for its continuous aggression on Lebanon and called for the implementation of the Security Council resolutions in this respect.

The Conference declared that policies of terrorism, coercion, assassination, imprisonment and establishment of settlements carried out by the Israeli enemy to Judaize Palestine, and the declaration of Al Quds (Jerusalem) as the eternal capital of the Zionist entity - constituted a war crime that called for drastic and immediate measures.

The Conference stressed the commitment of Islamic states to support the Palestinian people so as to secure their presence in their own land, and to allocate part 6f the Zakat Sharia to the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The extraordinary session decided to pursue its endeavours in all fields and on the widest international level at all international organisations to canvas as much recognition as possible for the national rights of the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The Conference called upon the forthcoming Special Session of the UN General Assembly devoted to Palestine to implement its resolutions in this regard, including the imposition of sanctions on the Zionist entity.

The Conference called upon the European Community to suspend the application of its economic agreements with Israel in implementation of its pledge to desist from applying these agreements in the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.

The Conference also appealed to 12 countries throughout the world to refrain from extending any aid to Israel, unless it responded to Security Council Resolutions 446 and 465.

It called upon all the Islamic States to join the Arab boycott movement and

coordinate their efforts in this regard with other Third World countries.

The Conference condemned the United States for its support to the Israeli occupation authorities in their settlement and hostile policies.

It called upon member states to lodge an official complaint with the United States for its policy in favouring Israel and denying the Palestinian People their national rights.

The Conference recommended that the Secretary General draw up a list of countries which extend political, economic and/or military aid to Israel whether directly or indirectly, to be submitted to the Extraordinary Session of the Conference which will be held in September 1980 at the U.N.

Finally, the Conference decided that the Foreign Ministers of the Islamic Countries should attend the special session of the U.N. General Assembly.

At the end of the Conference a cable was sent to His Majesty King Hussein bin Talal, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and his government, thanking them for hosting the Conference and for their generous hospitality