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Politics : Middle East Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (3199)	7/14/2003 8:18:49 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6945

It's adequate to me. Read about the Palestinian poll about the return issue? Not good for you - most Palestinians seem to be getting tired of being cannon fodder for you anti-S- - whoops, I mean - anti-Zionists. <<<<< By LAMIA LAHOUD Furious Palestinian refugees stormed the Ramallah offices of pollster Khalil Shikaki on Sunday morning, trying to stop him from releasing a new survey showing that most Palestinian refugees are ready to abandon claims to return to Israel. According to Shikaki's Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll, only 10 percent of respondents would wish to rebuild their homes under Israeli rule. Just over half of respondents said they would want to return to an independent Palestinian state, while 17% said they would stay in their adopted homes, and 2% would like to move to a foreign country. The rest rejected all the options presented or did not have an opinion. At the same time, the survey stated that the majority of refugees would support an agreement that does not address the so-called right of return, according to staff at the pollster's office. In the survey, 4,506 people were interviewed between January and June, distributed almost equally among Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. The survey had a margin of error of less than 3% for each of the areas surveyed. Around 700,000 Palestinians became refugees during the War of Independence in 1948. They and their descendants now number almost four million, living in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, according to the PLO. "The refugees who didn't choose to return to 1948 lands... know that life in Israel means Israeli citizenship, Israeli laws, and an Israeli social environment," Shikaki said. He was to present the results to journalists at his office when an angry crowd of refugees came to protest against the results and a group of youngsters stormed into the offices, smashing the windows, overturning and breaking furniture, and throwing eggs at Shikaki. "This is a message for everyone not to tamper with our rights," one angry refugee said. "We are here to announce that our right of return is a sacred right," said a leaflet distributed by the protesters. "We will resist any attempt to sabotage our right of return." "They did not even see the results," Shikaki told reporters as he mopped egg from his face. He was not hurt, but cancelled the press conference. Staff called for Palestinian Authority policemen; eyewitnesses said police arrived too late to stop the youngsters, but tried to calm tempers. Palestinian sources said they believe some "political elements" sent the youngsters to threaten Shikaki. "Someone sent them and provoked them. They had no way of knowing what was the real outcome of the survey," one eyewitness said. Palestinian officials condemned the attack on Shikaki, but one official said that, "As long as there is no law and order and no better atmosphere, it is the wrong time to raise the issue. In this environment, no one can protect those who raise this sensitive issue," he said. Al-Quds University president Sari Nusseibeh, the most prominent Palestinian to state that Palestinians must give up on the "right of return," was attacked by Fatah activists in Ramallah for making the statements and lost a lot of popularity for simply raising the issue. He continues to lobby for the idea, reasoning that only by breaking the taboo against discussing the controversial issue will Palestinians be able to deal with it. While Fatah and other Palestinian factions reject any compromise over the issue, refugees in Lebanon and Jordan have for a long time said that their dream is to return to a Palestinian state, not Israel proper. Already in 1990, young Palestinian refugees in Lebanon told this reporter that their dream was to return to a Palestinian state and make a normal life there for themselves and their families. "The polls reflect the thinking of the Palestinians, but do not determine politics... We continue to demand the right of return as part of a peace agreement," a PA source said. "Most Palestinians know that compensation and the return to the [future] state of Palestine, instead of Israel, is the practical solution [but] no one dares to say it publicly," he added. The Associated Press contributed to this report. jpost.com. siliconinvestor.com