Palestinian leader Abbas affirms hope for state in pre-1967 lines

[Gerald]

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has insisted his aim is to establish a Palestinian state only alongside Israel's pre-1967 boundaries with the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel recently accused him of seeking to supplant its sovereign territory.

But Mr Abbas, who was born in the town of Safed, told Israeli TV he accepted it was now part of Israel and that he would have no right to residency there.

Palestinians have historically demanded the right of return for refugees.

Hundreds of thousands fled or were displaced from their homes in the course of Israel's war of independence in 1948-49 and during the 1967 Middle East war.

Today, they and their descendants live mainly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Some five million are registered as refugees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa).

Israel argues that all refugees should relinquish any aspirations to return to what is now its territory, and instead be absorbed by Arab host countries or by a future Palestinian state, as Israel did with large numbers of Jews who were expelled or fled from Arab lands after 1948.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20179980


Note: 2 November 2012 Last updated at 15:44 GMT