In his letter, Ambassador Herzog sought to place in proper perspective the Damascus resolutions and their declared aim of destroying the State of Israel. Mr. Herzog cited from the Palestinian National Covenant, from the resolutions of the National Council of the PLO that met in Cairo in March 1977 and from the Damascus resolutions, to explain the true goals of the PLO and to refute any notion that there has been moderation in its stand and thus the PLO could be considered a party to possible negotiations on the Middle East settlement. Text:
His Excellency, Dr. Kurt Waldheim
The Secretary General
Excellency,
The Central Council of the PLO met in Damascus on 25 and 26 August 1977, and once again gave expression to its record of intransigence, inherent negativism, and its declared aim of destroying the State of Israel.
This is the burden of the statement issued at the end of the Central Council meeting, an unofficial translation of which is attached. It begins by reaffirming all the resolutions previously adopted by the PLO's highest body, the National Council. It scorns any attempts to attitude towards Israel, as set out in the "Palestinian Charter" article 19 of which claims that the establishment of the State of Israel is fundamentally null and void, and article 15 of which asserts that it is a "national duty" to purge Palestine of the "Zionist presence" (or, in plain language, to purge Palestine of the State of Israel).
The second point in the statement reiterates the PLO's complete rejection of Security Council Resolution 242, as authoritatively determined in the 15-point programme adopted by the National Council at its 13th session in Cairo from 12 to 20 March of this year. The third point calls for an increase in the armed struggle against Israel, and threatens those Arabs in the territories administered by Israel since 1967 who, now wholly disillusioned with the PLO and its murderous activities, are actively contemplating the possibility of negotiating their own future with Israel. Moreover, it refers to areas within Israel, such as the Galilee, as "occupied territories", thereby confirming the PLO's repeated designs on Israel as a whole.
The Central Council is the intermediate body in the PLO's political hierarchy, ranking above the executive, but subordinate to the National Council - and the absolute opposition of both those bodies to the existence of Israel is well documented. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the Central Council has not moderated its position in any way whatsoever, despite the unfounded and optimistic assessments of certain observers who predicted some unspecified form of PLO acceptance of Security Council Resolution 242, the only basis for the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East agreed to by Israel and the neighbouring Arab states.
Lest there be any doubts about the National Council's position, as reaffirmed in the Central Council statement, a translation of the 15-point programme of March 1977 is also attached. Significantly, it opened by recalling the "Palestinian national covenant". It rejected Security Council Resolution 242 out of hand, and pledged the PLO to pursue the armed struggle and also all forms of political and mass struggle. It forswore any peace with, or recognition of Israel, and presumed to claim a right to invalidate any settlement affecting the Palestinians reached without the PLO.
I wish to emphasize that the statement issued by the Central Council, taken together with the recent indiscriminate outrages against civilians by the PLO demonstrate yet again that that grouping of Arab terrorists cannot be a partner to any steps leading to a settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict, because of its essentially vicious nature and its remorseless commitment, explicitly declared, to the destruction of the State of Israel.
I have the honour to request that this letter and its attachments be circulated as an official document of the General Assembly, under item 31 of the provisional agenda, and of the Security Council.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Chaim Herzog
Permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations