The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has sparked widespread anger and condemnation within the Palestinian territories and abroad for publicly waiving his right to return to live in his town of birth.
Talking to Israeli Channel 2 about Safed, his town of birth from which his family fled in 1948, Abbas said:
"I visited Safed before once, he said. "But I want to see Safed. It's my right to see it, but not to live there."
"Palestine now for me is '67 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is now and forever ... This is Palestine for me. I am a refugee, but I am living in Ramallah. I believe that the West Bank and Gaza is Palestine and the other parts are Israel."
In refugee camps in Gaza, the president’s image was burned in protest of the comments, which were seen as conceding the demand of Palestinian to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.
Gaza’s Hamas leader said in a statement:
"No one has the right, whoever he is – a common man or president, organisation, a government or authority – to give up an inch of Palestinian land."
Mahmoud Abbas rejected accusations of conceding on key Palestinian demands and insisted that he was selectively quoted by the media.
Read full report on the Guardian here.
