Farouk Kaddoumi: Refugees are Key to Palestinian State
 |
| Farouk Kaddoumi |
|
|
BPNIC Briefing, December 2007
Mr. Farouk Kaddoumi, Chairman of the Palestinian National
Liberation Movement (Fatah), Secretary General of the Fatah
Central Committee and head of the Political Department of
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), reiterated in
Damascus-Syria, that Palestinian Refugees' Right of Return
is his top priority and key to establishing a Palestinian
state, Qatar's Ash-Sharq newspaper reported on December 11,
2007.
Mr. Kaddoumi was appointed to succeed as President of the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Chairman of the PLO
through a decree made in the form of a political last will
by the late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. However,
Mr. Kaddoumi instead voted for Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, as he
preferred to stay in exile in Tunis-Tunisia, and has since
focused on taking the role of spokesman for the Palestinian
refugees.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Palestinian
refugees are defined as people whose normal place of
residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who
lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of
the Israel-Arab conflict.
UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants
of persons who became refugees in 1948. According to UNRWA,
the number of registered Palestinian refugees was 914,000 in
1950 and has subsequently grown to more than 4.4 million in
2005, and continues to rise.
More on Palestinian Representation
Today, the Fatah-led PNA headed by President Mahmoud Abbas,
is the authority of the Palestinian people living in the
homeland while the Fatah-led PLO, which formally delegates
power to the PNA, is responsible for Palestinian foreign
representation offices abroad and is the sole legal
representative for Palestinian people wherever they may be.
According to the National Conciliation Document of the
Prisoners, signed June 28, 2006, the PLO is to represent the
Palestinians in a manner that meets with the changes in the
homeland and strengthens the ability of the PLO to fulfill
its responsibilities in leading the Palestinian people in
the homeland and the Diaspora, therefore the PLO is the body
that mobilizes the people in defending Palestinian national,
political and humanitarian rights in the various
international arenas. |
