Israel Matzav

'It's better they die in Syria than give up their right of return'

'Moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen has rejected an offer from Israel to re-settle 'Palestinian refugees' from Syria in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, because it would require those 'refugees' to sign a statement saying that they have no right to 'return' to parts of Israel within the 1949 armistice lines.

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.

I wonder if anyone asked these 'Palestinian refugees' whether they'd prefer to die in Syria rather than to give up their 'right of return.' What a silly question. Of course they didn't. 

Labels: Abu Mazen, Palestinian refugees, right of return, Syrian uprising

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:32 PM