Dear Friend of FLAME:

According to Bob Dylan, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." But despite all the huff and bluster from Palestinian "president" Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cronies confirming that they don't want peace with Israel, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has ignored them.

Indeed, undeterred by the Arabs' foot-dragging, obstinacy and outright hostility, Kerry has obsessively shoved the latest peace negotiations down the throats of both Israel and the Palestinians.

Now, just before Mr. Kerry could unveil his shiny new "framework" for an Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Palestinians have made it perfectly clear---even clearer, if that's possible---that they have no interest in Mr. Kerry's plan or, for that matter, in peace.

Abbas recently issued a set of red lines for peace that negate every stipulation the U.S. and Israel have requested in a peace deal, thus killing it before Kerry could even issue his precious framework document.  These include:

• —Total Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured by Israel in 1967 (and that Israel do so within 3-4 years)
• —The Palestinians will not be required to recognize the Jewish state
• —East Jerusalem (presumably including the Western Wall and the Jewish quarter) will be designated as the capital of a Palestinian state
• —The release of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel irrespective of their crimes
• —Resolution of the refugee issue following the U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 (which in 1949 the Arab states rejected, which Israel couldn't accept because it wasn't yet a state, and which in any case, like all GA resolutions, has no binding effect)

It is this last point---the so-called "right of return"---upon which the Palestinians have been unyielding for decades.  They want a Palestinian state and they want millions of their people to be able to "return" to Israel, which would swamp Israel demographically and put an immediate end to the Jewish state.  In other words, what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine.

Let's not forget that when Resolution 194 was adopted, the refugees were real, living refugees by the standard definition.  Today, those Arab refugees still alive number perhaps 35,000-50,000. Let's not forget either that this definition has been perverted so that the Palestinians now claim a refugee is any descendant---including grandchildren and great-grandchildren without end---of the original Arabs who fled in 1949 from the land that is now Israel.

Suffice it to say, the overwhelming majority of these descendants have never set foot in Israel, so they cannot possibly "return" to it.

This week's FLAME Hotline article, by the courageous Israeli-Arab journalist Khalid Abu Toameh, slaps us awake to the utter futility of John Kerry trying to negotiate peace with the Palestinians.  Toameh reports on the latest over-the-top outrage put out by representatives of the Palestinian refugees, who now claim rights for up to eight million Palestinians to settle in Israel.  They condemn Mahmoud Abbas for even suggesting that he has the authority to negotiate their future.

Please review and pass this unsettling article to your friends and colleagues. Help us inform U.S. citizens about the folly of Kerry's high-pressure campaign against Israel and his disregard of the Palestinians' political disarray and blatant bad faith.

Thanks for your support of FLAME and of Israel!

Best regards,

Jim Sinkinson
Vice President, Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.

FLAME has been spreading the truth about the faux refugees and their mythical right of return for several years. To get the word out, we created and published a hasbarah (public relations) message---"Who---and How Many---Are the Palestinian Refugees? How, under the auspices of the UN Relief and Works Agency, can their numbers have exploded from 650,000 in 1948 to more than five million today?"---in media reaching 10 million readers. This position paper has become even more relevant today, in the wake of the Palestinians' new demands for "return" of eight million "refugees" to Israel. I hope you'll review this powerful piece and pass it on to all your contacts who will benefit from its message. If you agree that FLAME's bold brand of public relations on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support our publication of such outspoken messages. Please consider giving donation now, as you're able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html. Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the support it needs---from the U.S. Congress, from President Obama, and from the American people.

Palestinians: Eight Million Refugees Must Return to Israel

by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, February 21, 2014

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is facing criticism from Palestinian refugees for saying that he does not want to "flood" Israel with millions of refugees.

Abbas made his statement during a meeting in his Ramallah office earlier this week with dozens of Israeli students – the first direct encounter of its kind between the Palestinian Authority president and Israeli youths.

Abbas has also come under criticism for breaking a ban by Palestinian activists on meetings with Israelis. The ban has been imposed over the past few years by "anti-normalization" activists who oppose such meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.

Abbas's controversial remarks about the "right of return" highlight the difficulties facing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in his efforts to achieve a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian reactions to Abbas's remarks show that the issue of the refugees remains a sensitive and explosive one that could torpedo any agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Abbas told the Israeli students that the claim that he was seeking to "flood" Israel with five million refugees was nonsense.

"There is propaganda saying that Abu Mazen [Abbas] wants the return of five million refugees to destroy the state of Israel," he said. "This is not true at all. All what we said was: Let's place the issue of the refugees on the table because it's a sensitive case which needs to be solved in order to end the conflict and so that the refugees would be satisfied with a peace agreement. But we are not seeking to drown Israel with millions in order to change its demography. This is nonsense."

Representatives of Palestinian refugees rushed to issue condemnations of Abbas, accusing him of relinquishing the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to their former villages and towns inside Israel.

In Lebanon, where some 450,000 Palestinians live in several refugee camps and are exposed to Apartheid Laws that deny them access to many jobs and economic, health and educations services, Abbas's comments were received with deep resentment. During an emergency meeting in one of the refugee camps in Lebanon, Abbas was accused of "abandoning the right of return and harming Palestinian rights."

The refugees said they were particularly enraged over the fact that protest letters they sent to the Palestinian Authority embassy in Beirut were totally ignored.

Dr. Esam Udwan, an expert on refugee affairs, was quoted as saying that "Abbas's statements have caused damage to Palestinian rights." Accusing Abbas of providing Israel with concessions in return for nothing, Udwan said, "These remarks reflect Abbas's conviction that the issue of the refugees is ineffective and they have no right to return because this would mean drowning Israel. This is completely unacceptable. Who said that there are only five million refugees? The real number is eight million. Abbas mentioned the five million who are registered with UNRWA and benefit from its services. But there are millions of others who do not receive services from UNRWA and are not registered with it. This does not mean that they should be denied the right of return."

Ali Huwaidi, another expert on refugee affairs, also lashed out at Abbas: "Regardless of Abbas's statements, the right of return is guaranteed, individually and collectively, through UN resolutions. The refugees will not give up their right no matter where they are living today. Abbas is worried about flooding Israel with five million refugees while Israel has brought one million people from the former Soviet Union and no one complained about this. Our refugees will not accept any alternative to their right to return to their homeland and we do not care what Abbas's position is."

Many Palestinians said that Abbas was not authorized to make any concessions or speak on behalf of the refugees.

This was not the first time that Abbas had come under attack on the issue of the refugees. Last year, Abbas told an Israeli TV station that he personally does not want to return to his former hometown of Safed in northern Israel. That comment too was seen by his critics as a sign that he was wiling to "surrender" the "right of return" for millions of refugees.

Referring to Abbas's stance on the refugees, the Palestinian online newspaper Rai al Youm wrote, "President Abbas has given up his personal right to return to his hometown of Safed. He said he does not want to return to his home and will live in Ramallah. This concession, in our view, is a big sin because President Abbas should set an example for his people and not make concessions on their rights. We call upon President Abbas to stop speaking about the issue of the refugees because they haven't authorized him to make any concessions on their right of return."

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) also joined the chorus of Abbas critics. The group said in a statement that Abbas's comment about the refugees was a "dangerous concession" which reflected only his personal position. "The Palestinians are not bound by these statements," the PFLP said.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups have also strongly condemned Abbas's statements as "dangerous," adding that he does not have the authority to speak on behalf of all refugees. The groups also attacked Abbas for holding "warm" meetings with the Israeli "enemy."

The reactions to Abbas's statements concerning the issue of the refugees show that any agreement that Abbas reaches with Israel under U.S. pressure will not signal the end of the conflict with Israel. They also show that millions of Palestinians continue to believe that one day they will be allowed to move to Israel, regardless of whether a Palestinian state is established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem or not.

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