On Sunday evening, July 31, 1988, King Hussein delivered the following address to his countrymen, in explanation of various measures to disengage from the West Bank, including the cancel¬lation of a $1.3 billion development program for the Israeli-occupied territories. In light of the Palestinian uprising, intifadah, that began in the occupied territories in December 1987 [ see I .L.M. page 1672], and the actions taken by the recent Arab summit meetings [see I.L.M. page 1646], the statement aligns Jordan with an evolving Arab consensus on Palestinian self-determination.

On November 15, 1988, the Palestinian National Council adopted a political communique and declaration of independence for a Palestinian state [see I.L.M. page 1660]. These documents are before the U.N. General Assembly under agenda item 37, the Question of Palestine.

At an emergency Arab meeting in Amman, preoccupation with the Arab-Israeli conflict gave way to concern over the Iran-Iraq war. Until then, the permanent emergency of Palestine had been the basic raison d'etre for Arab summitry. But in Amman, the emergency was the Iran-Iraq war. It was shortly after the Amman meeting that the uprising in the occupied territories began. Therefore the Algiers summit meeting, also called “the intifadah (uprising) summit” returned the Palestinian issue to the top to “the Arab agenda and put the Arab-Israeli conflict back at the center of world attention

The Palestine National Council met in Algiers, November 12-15, 1988, in its 19th Extraordinary Session, referred to as the session of the intifadah or uprising. The two documents reproduced below were adopted at that session, and have subsequently been circulated as an official document of the U.N. General Assembly, under agenda item 37, the Question of Palestine.

A number of U.N. Resolutions are referred to in the Political Communique, and some have appeared in International Legal Materials. Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) appear at 17 I.L.M. 1469 (1978), annexed to the Framework for Peace in the Middle East, concluded at Camp David. General Assembly Resolution 40/61 of 1985 appears at 25 I.L.M. 239 (1986). General Assembly Resolution 43/21 of 1988 appears in this issue at 27 I.L.M. (1988). Security Council Resolution 605 (1987) is reproduced in the Secretary-General's report in this issue at 27 I.L.M. (1988).