Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday said Lebanon has a duty to fulfill towards Palestinians' civil rights and vowed not abandon the Palestinian right of return.
"Lebanon has to ensure the safety of residents on its territory," Hariri told a conference at the Grand Serail under the title "Achievements: vision and future" at the invitation of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee.
Hariri said that Lebanon won't abandon its national and human commitment to the Palestinian right of return and to the Palestinian right in an independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.
The Prime Minister, however, stressed that building the Lebanese state is a priority. "This small country has paid price in blood for the Palestine cause, and Lebanon is still committed to the cause," Hariri said. Equally, Hariri, said, Palestinians living in Lebanon should realize the importance of stability in Lebanon for their cause.
Speaking in the same conference, the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Lebanon Abdullah Abdullah urged consensus among Lebanese parties on granting basic rights to hundreds of thousands of refugees living in decrepit camps across the country. "We want our rights, but not if they are supported by one Lebanese party yet opposed by another," he said. "We only want our rights with Lebanese consensus."
Abdullah said he hoped a growing debate among Lebanese parliamentarians would result in agreement on granting refugees the right to medical care, employment and owning property. "Lebanon grants 136,000 foreigners working permits per year, and only 261 of them are Palestinian," he said, adding that Palestinians were not competing with the Lebanese for employment but with other foreigners.
[Source: Al-Manar TV]
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