Abbas promised not to give up the right of return of refugees

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday promised not to make any concession on the Palestinian refugees' right of return.

"We will never give up the right of return," Abbas said in a meeting with Palestinian academics in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "The homeland is our final destination to end the life of dispersal," he added.

His remarks, published by the official Palestinian news agency, came on the eve of Israel's 63rd anniversary. Most of Arab residents in villages and cities that Israel took over in 1948 have moved to refugee camps in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries.

Abbas said that the refugees' case was one of the basic issues in final-status negotiations with Israel, recalling that Israel " doesn't want to discuss the issues of refugees, Jerusalem, land and water."

The last round of negotiations broke down last year when Israel resumed building Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Abbas said the Palestinians "will never surrender to what the other party ( Israel) wants."

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