Middle East: 'safe and immediate return' of deportees asked.

Israel's deportation on 17 December 1992 of more than 400 Palestinians from the occupied territories has been strongly condemned by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

In adopting on 21 January without a vote a statement on the situation, the Committee also condemned what it called "Israel's persistent refusal" to comply with Security Council resolution 799 (1992), which demanded a "safe and immediate return" of the deportees to the occupied territories.

The Council was asked to take all necessary measures, including the application of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to implement its resolution, which would help ensure the continuation of the peace process and preserve the Council's credibility.

Israel's deportation of Palestinian civilians to southern Lebanon was "illegal under international law and Security Council resolutions", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the Committee on 27 January.

Referring to his efforts to implement resolution 799, he said development underscored the need to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East. "Only then can the root causes of the continuing violence be eliminated", the Secretary-General stated.

In January, the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Chinmaya Gharekhan of India, had four meetings in Israel with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who said that his Government's decision to "expel temporarily" 415 Palestinians could not be rescinded. That action had been taken "in the light of a number of acts of violence" against Israeli citizens, Mr. Rabin stated.

No alternative

Palestinian representatives, whom Mr. Gharekhan met in Jerusalem, called for full implementation of Council resolution 799. Unless the deportees were permitted to return, they said, the Palestinian delegation would not resume peace talks, which had been launched at the international peace conference on the Middle East on 30 October 1991 in Madrid, Spain.

The Secretary-General, after reviewing Mr. Gharekhan's assessments, reported (S/25149) on 25 January that there was "no alternative to the safe and immediate return to the occupied territories of all those deported".

Israel's decision on 1 February to allow the return of 101 deportees was denounced as being "not in compliance" with Council resolution 799 by Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN, Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa. Accepting that offer would be "tantamount to legitimizing deportation", he said in a 4 February letter (S/25242) to the Secretary-General.

Israeli Permanent Representative Gad Yaacobi on 9 February argued (S/25258) that the decision was a n "act of good faith" on Israel's part and provided that all the excluded persons would be allowed to return "by the end of 1993".

Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Rabin on 18 March at Headquarters, said the unresolved issue of the deportees might continue to be a "stumbling block" in Palestinian reintegration into the peace process. Both agreed that the peace talks should be resumed as soon as possible.

Committee Chairman (Keba Birane Cisse of Senegal reported (A/47/911S/25464) on 23 March that since mid-December, there had been a "rise in clashes" between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians living in the occupied territories, with some 50 Palestinians shot and killed in street disturbances --a death rate "not seen in several years".

Mandate extended

The Security Council on 28 January extended the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another six-month period until 31 July.

In adopting unanimously resolution 803 (1993), the Council reiterated its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, and called upon all parties concerned to "cooperate fully with the Force for the full implementation of its mandate".