Abbas: No to resettling refugees
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Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 15, 2004--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) on Wednesday rejected a new Israeli initiative to resettle Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries.
"Any proposal regarding the resettlement of the refugees is completely rejected," Abbas told reporters in Saudi Arabia.
Abbas was referring to the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic initiative aimed at finding a permanent solution to the Palestinian refugees in the PA-controlled areas and in neighboring Arab countries.
The initiative calls for asking countries that support the PA financially to invest capital in finding a permanent housing solution for Palestinians living in the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Syria and Lebanon.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has reportedly spoken with leaders of countries that financially back the PA, as well as representatives of the World Bank, and asked them to assist with the new plan. The plan also includes a request by some of these nations to absorb some of the refugees in their own countries.
The Ramallah-based Committee for Defending the Rights of Palestinian Refugees also rejected the Israeli plan and called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to acknowledge its responsibility for the plight of the refugees.
"Israel alone must admit that it is responsible for the problem of the refugees," the group said in response to the Israeli initiative.
"Israel must recognize the right of the refugees to return to their homeland and properties and compensate them for the psychological and material damage."
The committee condemned the Israeli plan as an attempt to obliterate the right of return and to extract more concessions from the Palestinians.
It warned the PA leadership against accepting the plan, which, it added, constitutes a grave offence against the refugees' rights.
"The right of return belongs to all Palestinian generations," the committee said. "It can't be replaced with plans to resettle the refugees because such attempts won't bring peace and security. The right of return is sacred, moral and legal."