26 July 1988

38th plenary meeting

Assistance to the Palestinian people

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 42/166 of 11 December 1987,

Recalling also Economic and Social Council resolution 1987/77 of 8 July 1987,

Bearing in mind the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,

Recalling the Programme of Action for the Achievement of Palestinian Rights, adopted by the International Conference on the Question of Palestine,

Taking into account the uprising of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories against the Israeli occupation, including its economic and social policies and practices,

Affirming that the Palestinian people cannot develop their national economy as long as the Israeli occupation persists,

Aware of the increasing need to provide economic and social assistance to the Palestinian people,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on assistance to the Palestinian people;

2. Regrets that the programme of economic and social assistance to the Palestinian people has not been developed as requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 42/166;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to charge the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) with supervising the development of the programme and to provide it with the funds needed to engage twenty experts to prepare an adequate programme, in close co-operation with the Palestine Liberation Organization, taking into account the uprising of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories and its implications;

4. Expresses its appreciation to those States, United Nations bodies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that have provided assistance to the Palestinian people;

5. Urges the international community, the organizations of the United Nations system, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations to disburse their aid or any other forms of assistance to the occupied Palestinian territories solely for the benefit of the Palestinian people and in a manner that will not serve to prolong the Israeli occupation;

6. Calls for the provision of emergency assistance to the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the dispatch of teams of orthopaedic surgeons;

7. Requests the international community, the organizations of the United Nations system, other intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations to sustain and increase their assistance to the Palestinian people in close co-operation with the Palestine Liberation Organization;

8. Decides to extend to the occupied Palestinian territories the same preferential treatment accorded to the least developed countries, pending the elimination of the Israeli occupation and the assumption of full control by the Palestinian people over their national economy without external interference;

9. Calls for the treatment on a transit basis of Palestinian exports and imports passing through neighbouring ports and points of exit and entry;

10. Also calls for the granting of trade concessions and concrete preferential measures for Palestinian exports;

11. Further calls for the implementation of development projects in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the cement plant referred to in General Assembly resolution 39/223 of 18 December 1984;

12. Condemns the occupying Power, Israel, for its brutal economic and social policies and practices against the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories;

13. Requests United Nations bodies not to extend any form of assistance to the occupying Power, Israel;

14. Stresses that aid is not and cannot be a substitute for a genuine and just solution to the question of Palestine;

15. Requests the Secretary-General to issue immediately a corrigendum to his report on assistance to the Palestinian people, bringing the language strictly into line with General Assembly resolution 42/166 and the present resolution;

16. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session, through the Economic and Social Council, on the progress made in the implementation of the present resolution.