Israel uses the crisis in Syria to try to coerce Abbas into relinquishing Palestinian refugee rights

Palestinians cross a road flooded and swept away by heavy rains in the northern West Bank village of Kabatyeh, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013.  (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-leader-rejects-deal-syria-refugees-105551580.html

Palestinian leader rejects deal on Syria refugees

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he rejected a conditional Israeli offer to allow Palestinians from war-torn Syria to resettle in the West Bank and Gaza.

Palestinians in Syria are descendants of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the war over Israel's creation in 1948.

The fate of Palestinians uprooted by Israel's creation is an explosive issue. Israel worries that a mass influx of Palestinians could destroy the notion of a Jewish state.

Last month, Abbas asked the U.N. to seek Israeli permission to bring Palestinians caught in Syria's civil war to the Palestinian territories.

Abbas said in comments published Thursday that Israel linked its acceptance to refugees relinquishing claims to returning to what is now Israel.

Abbas says "we rejected that."

Israeli officials declined comment.

*****

Abbas to U.N.: help Syria refugees enter Palestinian territory December 19, 2012

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Dec-19/199103-abbas-to-un-help-syria-refugees-enter-palestinian-territory.ashx#ixzz2HZzROGpn
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)