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by Nomi Bar-Yaacovfo for AFP
THURMONT, Maryland, July 14 (Islam Online & AFP) - Israel is ready to offer at the Camp David talks a large donation to an international body to aid the 3.7 million Palestinian refugees and accept a limited right of return, Israeli officials said Friday. "Israel will offer a substantial contribution to an international organization which will be set up to deal with the rehabilitation of the refugees and a limited right of return within the framework of family reunification," an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP. "The right of return will be to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees who have relatives living in Israel." But Israel would only offer these solutions to the refugee problem if the Palestinians make no further future demands on the issue. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is willing to make real concessions but only on condition that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat agree to a clause stating that the agreement reached puts an end to the half-century long conflict and that no further demands be made, the officials said. Israeli officials say they have no objection to the Palestinians saying that their offer to allow tens of thousands of refugees to join their families is a "realization of the right of return," but they insist that Israel will not accept legal or moral responsibility for creating the refugee problem, beyond expressing sorrow for their suffering. Palestinians either fled or were forced out from the region during the 1948 and 1967 Middle East wars. Their return now would lead to a Palestinian majority in Israel. A precedent has been set. Between 1948 and 1967 Israel absorbed between 60,000 to 70,000 Palestinian refugees as part of a family reunification program. The international body would be headed by Canada and Sweden and entrusted with raising money for refugees' rehabilitation. Canada is willing to offer asylum to some 23,000 refugees. The funds will be distributed to the Palestinian state, which Arafat intends to declare on September 13th. Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will also receive aid with the aim of improving the refugees living conditions. The size of the fund has not been decided upon, Israeli officials said. Israel would only contribute if the compensation agreements are final and if the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which looks after refugees, is disbanded and replaced by the new body. Since the beginning of the peace process, the refugee problem has been discussed on various tracks. A working group in the multilateral talks, headed by Canada, has been operating since 1992 and initiated programs such as creating a database of refugees. A serious attempt to resolve the conflict was made by peace architects Yossi Beilin and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in an unpublished 1995 plan. The two agreed that refugees would not be returned to Israel under the right of return, but that their return to a Palestinian state would not be limited. Under the plan, the Palestinian state would be able to grant a passport to every refugee, including those residing outside its territory, thus solving the problem of stateless refugees. The refugee problem is one of the thorniest issues dividing the Israelis and Palestinians debated at the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David. Meanwhile, US authorities continue to resist meeting with other Palestinian representatives of the PLO, some in opposition and some supporting Arafat. Palestinian Samir Ghoshah, a member of a group of seven Palestinians desiring to voice their concerns with the course of the peace talks, met with Secretary of State Madeline Albright in Emmitsburg, MD. Ghoshah and others fear Arafat may be facing undue pressure to secure concessions in the process that may damage the interests of Palestinians. Other representatives accuse the US of meddling in Palestinian affairs. The Associated Press quotes Tayseer Khaled of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), "It was agreed that the Palestinian leadership would continuously consult with Yasser Arafat and his negotiating team at Camp David. But the U.S. administration has exerted maximum effort to prevent this communication and we simply do not accept this," he said. "But this is not going to stop our efforts to communicate with our president." As of late Friday, Albright met with other Palestinian representatives, but did not invite them to Camp David, where summit talks are being held. Joining Ghoshah at the meeting with Albright were Arafat opponents Suleiman Najab, Hanan Ashrawi, Dr. Iyad Sarraj, and two Arafat supporters, Jamil Tarifi and Nabil Amr. |
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