Zionist Peres phones Abbas to thank him for his positions

Israeli president Shimon Peres hailed de facto president Mahmoud Abbas over the phone and thanked him for his latest remarks about the right of return and the popular uprising against Israel.

The official news agency of the Palestinian authority confirmed that Peres phoned Abbas on Sunday evening and said they talked about the peace process and the avenues to revive it.

Peres also praised Abbas in a press statement to the Hebrew TV on the same day by saying that Abbas proves through his words and actions that Israel has a true partner for peace.

He said that Abbas was aware that the right of return to the 1948 occupied lands would be impossible to achieve.

The Israeli president also appreciated Abbas’s commitment to prevent the outbreak of a third intifada (uprising) against Israel, describing his positions as brave.

For his part, Israeli war minister Ehud Barak said that Abbas’s latest remarks regarding the right of return and the third intifada were not new.

The Hebrew radio quoted Barak as saying on Sunday that Abbas had affirmed previously during several closed meetings with Israeli officials that he was ready to waive the right of return and would not allow the outbreak of a new intifada against Israel.

In a related context, the association for the defense of the rights of the displaced people in the 1948 occupied lands strongly denounced the concessions that were made by Abbas on the national rights of the Palestinian people.

In a press release, the association stated that the right of return is one of the most important national constants unanimously agreed upon by all Palestinians wherever they are and Abbas has no right to waive it.

“We, in the association for the defense of the displaced people, emphasize our unequivocal rejection of such statements and the free concessions on the right of return, this individual and collective right which does not accept any kind of mandate or delegation.”

“Therefore, the statements made by Abbas and his concessions are principally invalid because the Palestinian authority and the Palestinian liberation organization have no right to dispose of this individual and collective right unless they want to achieve it through the return of the last refugee to his home,” it added.