From the Liveblog of
Sunday, August 26, 2018
PLO official slams reported US plan to abrogate Palestinian right of return as ‘worthless nonsense’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe head of the PLO Refugee Affairs Department slams US President Donald Trump’s reported plan to “abrogate the right of return” for Palestinians, describing it as “worthless nonsense.”
“The issues of Palestinian refugees is the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the region,” Ahmad Abu Holi says in comments published on the official Palestinian Authority news site Wafa. “Its resolution can only be achieved through the implementation of United Nations resolutions, including most importantly [UN General Assembly] resolution 194.”
On Saturday, Israel’s Hadashot News reported that the Trump administration “is expected to a announce a new policy in the coming days that essentially abrogates the Palestinian right of return.”
The new policy is slated to include a series of measures, including the publication of a report that puts the total number of Palestinian refugees at approximately 500,000, the report said. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a UN body that supports Palestinian refugees, there are 5.3 million Palestinian refugees, including the descendants of those who left Israel in 1948, even if they never lived in Israel and hold citizenship in other countries.
The report said the Trump administration is also expected to announce that it rejects UNRWA’s policy of granting refugee status to the descendants of Palestinian refugees.
— Adam Rasgon
The Times of Israel Community.