According to Israeli counter-terrorism expert Dr. Ely Karmon, the move suggests the Palestinian Authority (PA) is trying to increase its influence among the 370,000 people in Lebanon who the PA claims are eligible to live in Israel. The reopening of PLO offices in Beirut, where Syria has a base of power, would also indicate a further warming of relations between Syria and the PA, Karmon added.
Lebanon has refused to grant citizenship to those designated as "refugees from Palestine", claiming that Israel is their home country. Karmon said that the Lebanese government wants to solve the problem of their status by having them live in Israel. Every Israeli government has categorically declared that it would never accede to allowing what the PLO calls the "right of return" to Israeli territory. About three million Arabs throughout the Middle East, some of whom were born in Israel, while most are descendants of families who fled Israel during the War or Independence in 1948, claim the "right of return" to Israel.
The PLO announcement of its return to Beirut was made during a three-day conference on the "right of return" sponsored by an organization headed by a former Iranian interior minister. Farouk Kadoumi, the head of the central committee of the Fatah, which is the dominant faction in the PA, met this week with officials of the 10 refugee camp-based factions in Lebanon and stressed the importance of promoting national unity, encouraging cooperation with terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamist organizations.
The PLO, an umbrella organization that includes leading Arab terrorist groups in Israel, is chaired by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Its Beirut office has remained closed since the 1982 Israeli Peace for Galilee operation, when the IDF, under then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, expelled the PLO and destroyed its power base in Lebanon.
Lebanon has refused to grant citizenship to those designated as "refugees from Palestine", claiming that Israel is their home country. Karmon said that the Lebanese government wants to solve the problem of their status by having them live in Israel. Every Israeli government has categorically declared that it would never accede to allowing what the PLO calls the "right of return" to Israeli territory. About three million Arabs throughout the Middle East, some of whom were born in Israel, while most are descendants of families who fled Israel during the War or Independence in 1948, claim the "right of return" to Israel.
The PLO announcement of its return to Beirut was made during a three-day conference on the "right of return" sponsored by an organization headed by a former Iranian interior minister. Farouk Kadoumi, the head of the central committee of the Fatah, which is the dominant faction in the PA, met this week with officials of the 10 refugee camp-based factions in Lebanon and stressed the importance of promoting national unity, encouraging cooperation with terrorist groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamist organizations.
The PLO, an umbrella organization that includes leading Arab terrorist groups in Israel, is chaired by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Its Beirut office has remained closed since the 1982 Israeli Peace for Galilee operation, when the IDF, under then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, expelled the PLO and destroyed its power base in Lebanon.