Abbas demands right of return to all refugees

Thursday August 28, 2008 22:17 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

During a Thursday press conference with reporters in Lebanon, Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, said all Palestinian refugees should have the right to return home, and added the internationally guaranteed Right of Return is one of the key issues in peace talks with Israel.

Palestinian President - Mahmoud Abbas

Abbas stated that any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian must include the right o return of all refugees.

“Palestinian refugees must have the right to return to their homeland”, Abbas said, “We are negotiating on this base with Israel”.

The Palestinian president also said that he opposes the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, and added that he rejects the idea of forcing the refugees to remain there.

The Lebanese president, Michael Suleiman, was with Abbas at the press conference.

 Abbas also said that he supports the Lebanese government in its decisions on how to deal with armed groups that are outside of the refugee camps.

 He added that refugee camps in Lebanon are part of the Lebanese territories, and therefore are also part of the Lebanese responsibility. The president said that the Palestinian leadership is willing to cooperate with Lebanon by all means.

 Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees are living in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon. They were displaced from their homes and lands after the 1948 War which led to the creation of Israel.

 Yet, as millions of Palestinian refugees are living in different countries, their issue remains one of the most conflicting issues of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel refuses to recognize the internationally guaranteed Right of Return and believes that the refugees who could be allowed back should live in the future Palestinian state but not in their homelands which became part of the state of Israel.

Earlier this week, Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, stated that the Right of Return of the Palestinian refugees “is not compatible with the creation of a Palestinian state”, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported.

Jerusalem and the Right of Return are two among various issues that Israel considers a “Red Line” while Israeli leaders never ceased making statements regarding the “forever united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel” and regarding their absolute rejection to the Right of Return.

arab world | refugees/immigration | news report saed at imemc dot org