Inter-parliamentary union supports Security Council resolution 1397

The Inter-parliamentary union (IPU) which wound up on Friday its 107th session supports the implementation of the UN security council resolution 1397 and, particularly the vision expressed in it for the existence of a Palestinian state and an Israeli state inside recognized and safe borders.

The IPU resolution adopted by consensus calls Israelis and Palestinians to adopt a logic of peace, instead of the logic of war, violence and terror by resuming political negotiations for a shared future. The two sides were also urged to observe a cease-fire, respect international humanitarian law and end hostilities in order to help the two people live in safety, the Palestinian institutions to operate freely and the two peoples to move in security.

The IPU conference further called Palestinians and Israelis to implement recommendations of the Mitchell and Tenet plans, resume negotiation on the basis of security council resolutions. Law-makers also welcomed the Saudi crown prince initiative for the region.

The Palestinian issue, included in the IPU conference agenda at the request of Morocco, was discussed at the commission for economic and social affairs in the presence of Palestinian and Israeli legislators.

In another recommendation on terrorism, the Marrakesh conference deemed that the absence of democracy and human rights respect and the failure to peacefully settle regional conflicts are additional reasons for terrorism.

Parliaments were invited to approve all the United Nations conventions on terrorism. The Inter-parliamentary Union further urged for the settlement of regional conflicts and for international cooperation in development policies in order to eradicate the causes of terrorism and insisted that ascribing or justifying terrorism by a religion, nationality or civilization threaten humanity. A resolution on environment adopted in Marrakesh expresses the law-makers' support to the Kyoto protocol on the reduction of gas emissions and calls for the protocol ratification before the world summit on sustained development slated for next August in Johannesburg.

The resolution argues that all states, including the United States, should acknowledge that since industrialized countries were the first to industrialize they should also be the first ones to take measures to reduce gas emissions causing green house effects.