Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas insisted Thursday in a news conference in Beirut that so-called "Palestinian" Arabs living in Lebanon should not have to permanently stay there, but instead should be able to move to Israel.
Abbas has been demanding the right for some five million descendants of Arabs who fled Israel during the 1948 war of Israel's independence to immigrate to the Jewish State with full immigrant rights and benefits. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far reportedly rejected the claim in final status negotiations with the PA.
Some 400,000 Arabs moved to Lebanon from Israel during the war of 1948; they and their descendants are still living in approximately a dozen "refugee camps" in Lebanon, which were set up at the time the State of Israel formally became a sovereign state, 60 years ago.