U.S. President Barack Obama sits with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) at the White House in Washington, June 9, 2010. Obama hosted Abbas at the White House on Wednesday seeking to ensure that fallout from Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid does not derail fragile U.S.-led peace efforts. (REUTERS)
Obama’s partner in peace Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas told supporters today, “Every Palestinian has a right to return to the homeland… Has a right to return to the homeland because the homeland is our final destination.”
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Ahead of planned Nakba Day protests, PA president says every Palestinian “has the right to see Palestine and return to the homeland.”
The Palestinian Authority leadership would never neglect the “right of return” for Palestinians to their original homes inside Israel, PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared on Saturday.
His declaration came as Palestinians prepared to mark Nakba [catastrophe] Day in protest against the creation of Israel in 1948.
Abbas said that the PA would continue to take “practical steps” toward achieving the “right of return.”
Every Palestinian, he added, “has the right to see Palestine and return to the homeland because the homeland is our final destination.”
Abbas said that when the Palestinian signed the Oslo Accords, the case of the refugees was the basic final-status issue. “Of course, the other side [Israel] does not want to discuss the issues of refugees, Jerusalem and water and that’s their business,” he said. “Does this mean that we should surrender to what they want? Of course not.”
Abbas also stressed that the Palestinians would not accept a Palestinian state that does not include Jerusalem as its capital.
“Our message to the world is that we want a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and a just solution on the basis of the [2002] Arab Peace Initiative,” he continued. “But we won’t accept at all a Palestinian state that does not have Jerusalem as its capital.”
By the way… Fatah and the Hamas terrorist group reconciled and signed a peace treaty in late April.
