Israel Matzav

Pandora's box is open: Olmert has agreed to the 'right of return'

You had to expect this to happen eventually, but it's still a kick in the gut to see it in print.

WorldNetDaily is reporting that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert has "agreed in principle to allow a number of Palestinian Arabs living in what the United Nations terms refugee camps to enter Israel as part of an Israeli-Palestinian accord." The report is based on a source who is "a senior 'Palestinian' negotiator. (Hat Tip: Gershon in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York)

Allowing any number of so-called Palestinian refugees to enter Israel would serve as an admission on Israel's part that millions of Palestinians living in U.N.-maintained camps are indeed refugees and have a legitimate right to live in Israel.

The Palestinian negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Olmert's team agreed in principle let a select number of Palestinians living in U.N.-maintained refugee camps into Israel in a series of phases that could take up to 15 years.

Though the negotiator said an exact number had not yet been determined, he indicated there could be as many as 20,000 Palestinians living in U.N. camps, with an initial phase of several hundred entering Israel with one year of an agreement. He said the first batch of entering Palestinian Arabs would consist of a sampling from the oldest residents of various U.N. camps.

David Baker, a spokesperson for Olmert, had no comment on the report Olmert agreed to allow a number of declared refugees to enter Israel.

The Palestinian negotiator said the Israeli and Palestinians teams have been hammering out the exact language to be used at a U.S.-sponsored summit slated for Annapolis later this month at which Olmert is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank in a joint agreement of principles signed by the Israeli leader and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Various media reports – denied by Olmert – claimed in recent weeks Israel would also evacuate sections of Jerusalem and would negotiate what are considered core Israeli-Palestinian issues – primarily the status of Jerusalem and the so-called return of refugees.

Read the whole thing.

Under these circumstances, "no comment" is an admission.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:14 AM