An Israeli ‘scoop’ internet site reports that Jordan’s King Abdullah has decided to grant passports to 150,000 self-described “Palestinian refugees” living in Jordan, enabling them to enter Israel as Jordanian tourists.
The decision was reported exclusively by Debka.com, who quoted unnamed PA and Washington sources. The web site, which regularly breaks news stories weeks before they are picked up by the mainstream press, says the Jordanian decision is the opening move in Prime Minister Sharon’s promised initiative, backed by the Bush administration. Debka terms the initiative, “people-for-land.”
Arabs who fled Israel to Jordan in 1948, heeding calls by confident Arab armies planning to decimated the fledging Jewish State, have been deprived of Jordanian citizenship, the right to travel, open businesses or buy housing and property. Now, according to Debka.com, they will be provided with passports in order to facilitate their unofficial entry to Israel. The web site predicts that the new passport recipients will cross into PA controlled areas of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza as tourists and simply stay.
The news agency asserts that Israel and the US must be aware of the Jordanian intention to open a back door for 150,000 PA Arabs residing in Jordan to implement their often spoke of, “right of return.”
Every Israeli government has unconditionally rejected any form of Arab refugee repatriation.
The given reason for such a move is that, with all of the private political agreements being signed on behalf of the State of Israel by private citizens, Sharon feels pressured to ‘out-Geneva’ Yossi Beilin and company, stealing the media attention by making the one concession still considered a red line even in far-left circles.
While Israeli signatories to the “Geneva Agreement” initially informed media sources that the PA Arabs with whom they negotiated had given up the Arab demand to flood Israel with Arab refugees and their descendants, official and media sources from the PA flatly deny the concession.
The so-called ‘Geneva Accord’ includes four options for the self-identified “Palestinian refugees”: to settle freely in the proposed Palestinian state; to settle where they are currently located (which requires the agreement of the Arab host countries); to move to a third country; or to move to Israel, with Israeli agreement to accept an average number based on third party demands (including countries like Syria and Lebanon).
In a speech on Lebanon’s Independence Day two weeks ago, Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud defended his country’s policy of denying Arabs that fled Israel during the 1948 War of Independence the right to permanently settle in Lebanon.
The talk of such resettlement, Lahoud said, was a “dangerous plot... a conspiracy against all Arabs - it gives the excuse to Israel to expel the remaining Palestinians and do away with the (Palestinian) issue and identity.”
Lahoud also emphasized that through unity against the resettlement of refugees in Lebanon, the Lebanese people will be able to thwart the “plot” - just as Lebanon did in “liberating its lands” in the south, Israel’s former security zone, through the option of resistance. Lebanon’s success in that arena, Lahoud stated, was accomplished with the cooperation of Syria.
The decision was reported exclusively by Debka.com, who quoted unnamed PA and Washington sources. The web site, which regularly breaks news stories weeks before they are picked up by the mainstream press, says the Jordanian decision is the opening move in Prime Minister Sharon’s promised initiative, backed by the Bush administration. Debka terms the initiative, “people-for-land.”
Arabs who fled Israel to Jordan in 1948, heeding calls by confident Arab armies planning to decimated the fledging Jewish State, have been deprived of Jordanian citizenship, the right to travel, open businesses or buy housing and property. Now, according to Debka.com, they will be provided with passports in order to facilitate their unofficial entry to Israel. The web site predicts that the new passport recipients will cross into PA controlled areas of the Judea, Samaria and Gaza as tourists and simply stay.
The news agency asserts that Israel and the US must be aware of the Jordanian intention to open a back door for 150,000 PA Arabs residing in Jordan to implement their often spoke of, “right of return.”
Every Israeli government has unconditionally rejected any form of Arab refugee repatriation.
The given reason for such a move is that, with all of the private political agreements being signed on behalf of the State of Israel by private citizens, Sharon feels pressured to ‘out-Geneva’ Yossi Beilin and company, stealing the media attention by making the one concession still considered a red line even in far-left circles.
While Israeli signatories to the “Geneva Agreement” initially informed media sources that the PA Arabs with whom they negotiated had given up the Arab demand to flood Israel with Arab refugees and their descendants, official and media sources from the PA flatly deny the concession.
The so-called ‘Geneva Accord’ includes four options for the self-identified “Palestinian refugees”: to settle freely in the proposed Palestinian state; to settle where they are currently located (which requires the agreement of the Arab host countries); to move to a third country; or to move to Israel, with Israeli agreement to accept an average number based on third party demands (including countries like Syria and Lebanon).
In a speech on Lebanon’s Independence Day two weeks ago, Lebanon’s President Emile Lahoud defended his country’s policy of denying Arabs that fled Israel during the 1948 War of Independence the right to permanently settle in Lebanon.
The talk of such resettlement, Lahoud said, was a “dangerous plot... a conspiracy against all Arabs - it gives the excuse to Israel to expel the remaining Palestinians and do away with the (Palestinian) issue and identity.”
Lahoud also emphasized that through unity against the resettlement of refugees in Lebanon, the Lebanese people will be able to thwart the “plot” - just as Lebanon did in “liberating its lands” in the south, Israel’s former security zone, through the option of resistance. Lebanon’s success in that arena, Lahoud stated, was accomplished with the cooperation of Syria.