Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett on Friday blasted a plan by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) to allow so-called “Palestinian refugees” to return to areas of Judea and Samaria under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction as part of a future peace agreement.
Liberman had written on Facebook, "Let it be clear about an arrangement with the Palestinians - we will not agree that even one refugee will return to the 1967 borders. If they want to receive them in Shechem, Hevron or Qalqilya – let them do so."
Bennett responded to the post and said, "No, Evet, this is a grave mistake, and we will not allow it. No descendant of a Palestinian refugee will cross the Jordan into the land of Israel. Whoever brings millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees to Judea and Samaria will destroy the Jewish majority that we have achieved between the sea and the Jordan River."
“They live in Lebanon? Let them become citizens there. They live in Egypt or Jordan? Let them become citizens there. Let me remind you that in the War of Independence, 650,000 Jewish refugees who had been expelled from Arab countries were created. They arrived in Israel and immediately became Israeli citizens. The problem of the descendants of the Palestinian refugees will be solved at their place of residence (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, etc.), not between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. There is enough land in the Arab countries (300 times more than Israel!) and there is no need to bring them here,” continued Bennett.
"Bringing in millions of Palestinians to Qalqiliya on Highway 6 is a demographic and security disaster. Therefore Evet: No refugee will cross the Jordan. Neither the 1967 borders nor the 1948 borders," he added.
"Palestinian refugee camps" in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are in fact built-up neighborhoods, which house the descendants of Palestinian Arabs who fled Israel during Arab invasions of the Jewish state.
In most Arab countries, these “Palestinian refugees” are segregated from the rest of society in an attempt to preserve their "refugee" status as a political weapon, and often complain of discrimination.
The “Palestinian refugee camps” in Syria and Lebanon have been targeted by sectarian violence in recent years.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)