Palestinian leader rejects deal on Syria refugees

[oberliner]

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian president said he has rejected a conditional Israeli offer to let Palestinian refugees in war-torn Syria resettle in the West Bank and Gaza, charging it would compromise their claims to return to lost homes in Israel.

Palestinians in Syria are descendants of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. Uprooted Palestinians and their offspring, now numbering several million people, cite U.N. resolutions in claiming the right to return to the property they left behind.

Abbas said he asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon last month to seek Israeli permission to bring Palestinians caught in Syria's civil war to the Palestinian territories. The request came after fighting between Syrian troops and rebel fighters in Yarmouk, the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. About half of the camp's 150,000 residents have fled, according to a U.N. aid agency.

Abbas told a group of Egyptian journalists in Cairo late Wednesday that Ban contacted Israel on his behalf.

Abbas said Ban was told Israel "agreed to the return of those refugees to Gaza and the West Bank, but on condition that each refugee ... sign a statement that he doesn't have the right of return (to Israel)."

"So we rejected that and said it's better they die in Syria than give up their right of return," Abbas told the group. Some of his comments were published Thursday by the Palestinian news website Sama.

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-leader-rejects-deal-syria-refugees-105551580.html

[backwoodsbob]

1. amazing

*"So we rejected that and said it's better they die in Syria than give up their right of return," *

Shows where peoples priorities are I guess

[shira]

3. "Better they die in Syria". IOW, it's more important Israel is destroyed....

...via RoR than to save Palestinian lives.

I wonder if the refugees trying to flee Syria get a say on that one.


Now who here believes the Palestinians will ever settle for anything less than full RoR and Israel's destruction? After this doozy of a quote, I want to see someone here argue that the PA is a real peace partner and that all they want is their own state.

And Israel's settlements are the main obstacle to peace?



I can't think of a better quote that helps to explain the I/P conflict better than this one.

Absolute narrative killer here for the anti-Israel brigade.

Bookmark material.

[Scootaloo]

4. Then again, Israel would rather they die too... Which is why they're in Syria in the first place

And why it demands people under duress sign away their human rights, in exchange for allowing them to seek asylum in a nation that happens to not be Israel.

Your concern is every bit as fraudulent as your concern for gays and women.

[shira]

6. Yes, blame Israel and the Zionists. It's their fault...

Anything to distract from the true, ugly face of the Palestinian cause that you are part of.

You're no better than Abbas. Better that the refugees from Syria die than give up their collective RoR.

How sick, twisted, and evil is that?

Think the refugees agree? That Abbas speaks for them?

[Scootaloo]

8. Actually it is.

It's not Israel's fault that these people are being targeted in Syria, of course, I'm not saying that at all. But it is the fault of Israel that these people are in harm's way in the first place. And it is Israel setting a condition that they waive their human rights under such duress in order to seek refuge in a country other than Israel.

I don't give a shit who's doing it or who it's being done to, "waive your human rights or die " is a fucking vile demand to make of people fleeing war and carnage.

You do not think so, evidently. Yet you have the chutzpah to talk about sick, twisted, and evil.

[shira]

9. No, if you want to blame Israel for the original refugee crisis in 1948....

Last edited Sun Jan 13, 2013, 07:29 AM - Edit history (2)

....due to a war the Palestinians started then, have at it. That's not what's being argued. The perpetuation some 6 decades later is not Israel's fault when all other refugees in every other conflict since the 1940's have been re-settled in different nations.

This atrocious act of inhumanity is the world's problem, not Israel's. It's horrific to keep the refugees locked up in cages against their will the last 6 decades. That an alleged humanitarian for civil rights like yourself refuses to see it that way speaks volumes.

I have no doubt that if faced with the choice b/w life outside of Israel and outside of their camps vs. signing a piece of paper, refugees would quickly sign up for a the normal life.

You'd have them rot another 6 decades against their will if it were up to you. Talk about a crime against humanity. This one's not just on Arab regimes but the world (UN). So much to be proud of there. It's like you said, even if the refugees could live elsewhere on their own, they wouldn't lose their refugee status (under UNRWA law that applies to no other refugees worldwide). Why do you guys and the rest of the world insist they rot away in camps?

[sabbat hunter]

2. The chances of Israel

ever allowing a physical return of any of the Palestinians who left, fled, were told to leave by fellow Arabs during the War for Israeli independence is miniscule.

I would fully support a financial settlement for any that were forced out, as long as any Jews forced to flee from Arab countries, after the founding of Israel are also financially compensated.

[shira]

10. Agreed. n/t

[shira]

11. The "credible" Maan News just blamed Israel for Palestinians dying in Syria...

Fatah central committee member Mohammad Ishtayyeh said on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority had attempted to negotiate the return of Palestinian refugees from Syria, but Israel had refused.

Ishtayyeh said in a meeting with diplomats organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Ramallah that the PA had tried with all its might to "end the suffering" of Palestinians in Syria through international mediation.

Israeli officials, however, had refused to allow them to come to the Palestinian territories.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=679399

It's been more than a year now, but note the silence by 99.9% of the BDS Israel-bashers. The Israel haters who purport to care about the refugees and their "right" to return always assure others about their solidarity with the Palestinian people, that they do NOT support Fatah or Hamas...



Yeah right.

A year later and there are 100's more Palestinians dead in Syria because Abbas said it's better they die there than give up their RoR.

Abbas had a chance to let tens of thousands of refugees decide whether they wanted out of Syria and into the W.Bank. He decided for all of them, denying them a choice, despite stating in the past that all Palestinians have an individual right to choose their own fate.

It's still not too late for the remaining refugees in Syria.

Where is the BDS crowd who cares about the Palestinian refugees? Where's the UN? Where are all the human rights NGO's to pressure Abbas into reversing his death sentence, to let these refugees decide for themselves whether they want out of Syria? Why is Abbas still portrayed as 'moderate', and especially moderate regarding RoR?

[shira]

12. 3/14/2014 Assad is starving Palestinians to death in a Syrian camp, and nobody cares

http://www.timesofisrael.com/three-years-of-civil-war-in-syria-no-end-in-sight/#ixzz2w7DgEsLy

Why aren't certain "peace activists, "pro-Palestinians" or BDS'ers doing anything to pressure M.Abbas into allowing these Palestinian refugees a choice to escape Syria by entering the W.Bank? Israel will allow for that but Abbas would rather see them die than renounce a mythical right-of-return they will never get.

Abbas wants them to die for a lie.

And this is perfectly okay with Israel's harshest critics who claim to be pro-Palestinian?