Mahmoud Abbas insists on ROR, urges Lebanese discrimination against Palestinians

 

Everyone knows that a dog in Israel has more rights than a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon. It is natural for Mahmoud Abbas to try to ingratiate himself with the Lebanese and calm their fears that, horror of horrors, Palestinians might want to settle in Lebanon. But Abbas went on to insist that the Palestinians are seeking "Right of Return" to Israel, a solution that he knows Israel has to reject.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Abbas: Don't resettle Palestinians in Lebanon

Published: 08/28/2008

[JTA] Mahmoud Abbas said he objects to the permanent resettlement of Palestinians in Lebanon. 

"The Palestinians have the right of return and this is an issue we are discussing with the Israelis," the Palestinian Authority president, meeting in Beirut on Thursday with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, told reporters.

About 400,000 Palestinians live in 12 refugee camps in Lebanon. Most of them arrived in Lebanon in 1948 or are descendants of those refugees. The camps are a hotbed of ferment, with occasional outbursts of violence.

Abbas also called for a "comprehensive" solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, including returning the Golan Heights to Syria and resolving the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over the border-area Shebaa Farms.