Palestine reject Barak's statements on Palestinian refugees not returning

The Palestinian National Authority said it opposes statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday in Washington, in which he excluded the probability of the Palestinian refugees' return to their homes and his call for settling them in the Arab states.

They said that Barak's statements also contradict the agreement signed between the two sides in 1999, as they are considered to be a unilateral action by Israel.

Asaad Abd El-Rahman, a member of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who deals with the refugee issue said these statements contradict the peace process, the agreements signed between the two sides and resolutions of international legitimacy.

He assured the PA's and Palestinian Liberation Organization's opposition to all Barak's statements that unified Jerusalem is a capital for Israel and that the refugees cannot come back.

He said Jerusalem is a part of the occupied lands and the capital of the independent Palestinian state and that the Palestinian refugees must return to their houses so that a just and comprehensive peace can take place in the area, because without an Arab Jerusalem and the refugee's return peace will not take place.