http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90854/7237495.html

PLO official: any deal with Israel won't succeed without refugees

09:09, December 21, 2010

An official from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said on Monday that any future deal with Israel will not succeed if it dropped Palestinian refugees' rights of return.

"It is not only the refugees who will reject the solutions, it is all the Palestinians, including the leadership and the PLO," said Zakareya Al-Agha, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee.

Al-Agha said that "the fair solution" to the issue of refugees is the implementation of the United Nations Resolution 194 "and rejecting any interpretation that might weaken or play it down."

The resolution, which the UN General Assembly passed in December 1948, calls for the return of the refugees to their homelands and villages that Israel took over before it declared its statehood.

"The resolution enjoys Arab and international agreement and " for the Palestinians, it is a legal and political reference to resolve the refugees' issue," Al-Agha said.

The issue of the refugees, especially those who settled in camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, is one of the final-status issues in stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The negotiations stopped in late September, after Israel resumed building Jewish settlements in the West Bank. However, the negotiations were still far away from the final issues.