(DOWNLOAD) "Lebanon Insists on Right of Return for Palestinians (Lebanon-Report: Palestinians)" by The Weekly Middle East Reporter (Beirut, Lebanon) # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Lebanon Insists on Right of Return for Palestinians (Lebanon-Report: Palestinians)
- Author : The Weekly Middle East Reporter (Beirut, Lebanon)
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Reference,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 67 KB
Description
Worried as ever that the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees would tilt the fragile demographic balance, Lebanon insists that all Palestinians living in exile should be given the right to return to what was once Palestine, the influential Beirut-based daily AN NAHAR reported on Aug. 13. "For Lebanon, the priority is the preservation of the 'right of return' for all Palestinian refugees, not the permanent settlement of its share of them on Lebanese soil," the newspaper quoted an unnamed high-ranking official source as saying. "The Lebanese government has expressed this very clearly to all," the source said. "Lebanon sticks to the right of Palestinian refugees to return home. It believes that any resolution to the Middle East conflict that does not preserve the right of return would be incomplete," the source told AN NAHAR. "Lebanon adheres to [the principle of] a just and comprehensive peace in the region, the 2002 Arab peace initiative and UNGA [United Nations General Assembly] Resolution 194, all of which call for the preservation of the right of return." The 1948 Resolution 194 is, like all UNGA resolutions, non-binding. It states that "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the governments or authorities responsible." The 2002 Arab peace initiative calls for the withdrawal of Israel back to pre-1967 borders, in exchange for normalization of relations with Arab states. Lebanon also sticks to the National Accord Document, i.e. the Taif Accord, which was reached by Lebanese lawmakers in the Saudi city of Taif in 1989 and ended the country's 1975-90 civil war, the source told AN NAHAR. "The document, which enjoys Arab and international recognition and backing, bans the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon," the source noted. Recalling the role armed Palestinian organizations played in the Lebanese civil war, which left 150,000 people dead and another 500,000 wounded, the source said Lebanon "paid an economic, social, human and national price for supporting Palestinians," and urged other Arab countries to pay their share as well. "Lebanon has the right to refuse the permanent settlement of refugees on its soil because this would have a negative demographic, social, religious and economic impact."