Return right key to Palestinian refugee problem

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a promising solution to the plight of Palestinian refugees lies in their moral and legal right to return to what was once Palestine.

Assad stated that granting the right of return is an inalienable, basic human right to each individual Palestinian refugee and they should be permitted to do so at the earliest practical date.

Right of return will alleviate the problems of Palestinians living in refugee communities scattered around the Middle East, he added.

The Syrian leader made the remarks during a meeting with Commissioner General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency Filippo Grandi in Damascus on Tuesday.

Grandi also called on Arab nations to throw their weight behind international efforts to lift the years-long siege of the Gaza Strip, and help end the suffering of some 1.5 million Palestinians living there.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were displaced from their homes during the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 and 1967. They and their descendents live, many crammed into overcrowded enclaves, mainly in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon while some of them still retain old deeds and keys to homes now occupied by Israelis.

The Palestinians have been demanding the right to return to their homeland citing the United Nations General Assembly resolution 194, while Israelis are pushing for the refugees to be absorbed into their Arab host countries.

But most of the Arab nations have refused to do so, wishing neither to surrender to Israeli demands nor to upset the demographic balance of their own populations.