OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 18 August 2003 — The Palestinian leadership wants to solve the refugee problem only by reaching agreement with Israel, Palestinian Information Minister and government spokesman Nabil Amr said yesterday.
“The ‘right of return’ issue will be solved only in agreement with Israel. We will not harm the Jewish character of the state of Israel and the solution will therefore be pragmatic,” he told Israel Army Radio.
Amr’s remarks came after Palestinian External Affairs Minister Nabil Shaath caused outrage in Israel, when he said in Beirut on Friday that Palestinian refugees should be allowed to return not only to a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but also to Israeli cities, such as Haifa. Shaath softened his stance yesterday, when he told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news station that the return of refugees to Israeli cities was “open to negotiations”, but that they would definitely be able to return to a future independent Palestinian state.
More than four million Palestinians live in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The refugee problem was one of the main deal breakers of the July 2000 Camp David peace summit. In Ramallah, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday dismissed Israeli plans to withdraw from four West Bank towns as an attempt to circumvent the road map. “We want Israel to implement what was mentioned in the road map instead of wasting time,” he told reporters.
“This is a clear attempt at partitioning and to go around the road map.” Arafat was talking as Israeli and Palestinian officials were due to meet to finalize the timetable for troop pullbacks from Jericho and Qalqilya in coming days.
They were also due to discuss the transfer of security control in Tulkaram and Ramallah, where Arafat has been effectively held captive in his headquarters by the Israeli army for more than 19 months.
“What does this withdrawal from a small part of our territory mean when they keep the siege and checkpoints which are increasing every day?” asked Arafat, with whom both Israel and the United States refuse to negotiate. Arafat’s opposition differed from comments made by his Information Minister Amr, who said the “Cabinet welcomes the Israeli decision to withdraw from four cities. The withdrawals from Qalqilya and Jericho are expected to begin tomorrow morning, Amr told reporters in Ramallah.
Amr said the Cabinet was insisting that any withdrawals be accompanied by the removal of checkpoints. “Any withdrawal without the removal of checkpoints is nonsense.”
