News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority (PA) is embarking on a campaign to encourage Arabs in foreign countries to bring their possessions with them and try to enter Israel towards the 60th anniversary of the modern state. The plan brings to the forefront the so-called "right of return" issue, which refers to more than five million foreign Arabs who claim to be descendants of Arabs who fled Israel during the War of Independence. Arab nations urged them to leave with the intention of their returning after the expected annihilation of the fledgling Jewish state.

The international community refers to the foreign Arabs as refugees, and the terminology and their lack of facilities provided by foreign countries have provided the PA with the foundations of a public relations campaign to arouse sympathy for their cause. Israel has totally rejected allowing the mass immigration, which would effectively end the Jewish majority in the country. The PA has encouraged them to arrive in Israel on planes and by boats with United Nations flags as a sign they are without a country.

"Fulfilling the right of return is a human, moral and legal will that can't be denied by the Jews or the international community," according to the PA plan, drawn up by prisoners affairs minister Ziad Abu Ein. "On the [60th] anniversary of the great suffering, the Palestinian people are determined to end this injustice."