Abbas rejects deal on Syria refugees
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Khaleej Times - 11 January, 2013
http://gitm.kcorp.net/index.php?id=629929&news_type=Top&lang=en

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he rejected a conditional Israeli
offer to allow Palestinians from war-torn Syria to resettle in the West Bank
and Gaza.

Palestinians in Syria are descendants of hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the war over Israel’s creation in
1948.

The fate of Palestinians uprooted by Israel’s creation is an explosive
issue. Israel worries that a mass influx of Palestinians could destroy the
notion of a Jewish state.

Last month, Abbas asked the U.N. to seek Israeli permission to bring
Palestinians caught in Syria’s civil war to the Palestinian territories.

Abbas said in comments published Thursday that Israel linked its acceptance
to refugees relinquishing claims to returning to what is now Israel.

Abbas says “we rejected that.”

Israeli officials declined comment.