How many Palestinian refugees would want to return?

“I don’t know,” Abbas said. “I don’t argue with anybody. ‘O.K., you want your right of return? It’s O.K., when we come to it, we will do our best to try to fulfill your dreams. According to the Arab Peace Initiative.’ But at that time, I don’t know whether the 5 million will ask — maybe some of them will ask for compensation and that’s it. Some of them will ask, ‘O.K., I will return back to Palestine.’ Some will return back to Israel. But when they think of it deeply — ‘O.K., you are going to Israel, to be a member of the Israeli society, to raise the Israeli flag, to have the identity card of Israel, to have an Israeli passport?’ ‘Oh, no no.’ We don’t go into details, no, but if somebody asks, I will answer them: ‘If you want to go to Israel, of course, you have to be an Israeli citizen. You have to make salute to their national anthem.’ ‘Oh, no no no!’ Some say, ‘Yes, I will go. I need to go.’”

Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/11/06/the-palestinian-right-of-return-abbas-wades-into-the-morass/#ixzz2BZbsEqgb

TIME MAGAZINE

The Palestinian ‘Right of Return’: Abbas Wades into the Morass

A Hamas supporter burns a poster depicting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a protest in Jabalya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 3, 2012 Mohammed Salem / Reuters