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Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 02:06:39 +0300
Priority: normal
Subject: For moderation - from BADIL: Refugees Protest against Ziad Abu Zayad Statement
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BADIL Resource Center
For immediate release, 16-7-1999
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Press Statements by Ziad Abu Zayad on the Right of Return of
Palestinian Refugees Trigger Public Protest in Palestine
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Statement by the Popular Service Committees and Palestinian National
Institutions in the Refugee Camps of the Northern West Bank,
July 1999:
On 14 July 1999, representatives of the Popular Service Committees
and Palestinian national convened a meeting in al-Far'a camp in order
to discuss recent statements by PLC member and PA minister Ziad Abu
Zayad on the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and its
implementation. Subject of this discussion were both, Ziad Abu
Zayad's interview with the Israeli radio and his clarifications,
published in Al-Quds newspaper on 3 July 1999.
The participants in this meeting consider both statements as
dangerous and a threat to the national rights of the Palestinian
people, in particular to the right of the refugees to return to their
homes and to receive compensation for lost properties, as well as
material and non-material damages. The participants issued the
following statements:
1. We denounce and condemn the statements made by Ziad Abu Zayad as
they do not reflect the Palestinian refugee position in Palestine and
the Diaspora.
2. We re-affirm our firm and sacred right of return and our right to
compensation guaranteed to us by UN resolutions, especially UN
Resolution 194. We consider these rights as non-negotiable national
rights.
3. We call upon the refugee committees of the PLC and the PNC to
implement their responsibilities regarding refugee issues, to
strongly condemn statements of this kind which undermine the refugee
position, and to prevent official representatives from making
personal statements which weaken the refugee position.
4. We call upon the PLO Refugee Department to firmly reprimand
persons who issue irresponsible statements that -we can only suspect -
are given in order to undermine the refugee position.
5. We call upon everybody, Palestinian politicians and
representatives to take a firm position on Palestinian national
rights and to abstain from evading them under all circumstances. At
the same time, we warn those people who are afraid of advocating
Palestinian rights, that they will be judged by the Palestinian
people.
6. We call upon President Arafat to stop at the roots all those who
attempt to trespass or weaken the national rights of the Palestinian
refugees.
OUR RIGHT TO RETURN AND COMPENSATION IS FIRM AND SACRED. THIS RIGHT
IS THE RED LINE THAT WE WILL NOT PERMIT ANYBODY TO CROSS!
The Popular Service Committees and Palestinian National Institutions
in the Refugee Camps of the Northern West Bank.
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For further information contact: BADIL Resource Center for
Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights, PO Box 728, Bethlehem,
Palestine; tel/fax. 02-2747346; email: [log in to unmask]; website:
www.badil.org
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