Palestinians riot to stop release of survey

Reuters

Dozens of furious Palestinian refugees wrecked a
local pollster's office on Sunday to stop him
releasing a survey showing most Palestinian
refugees were ready to abandon claims to 'return' to
what is today Israel.

Dozens of refugees pelted
Palestinian academic Khalil
Shikaki with eggs when they
burst into his office,
overturning tables and smashing
windows, moments before he was
to release the results of his
controversial survey on
Palestinian refugees.

Shikaki, whose think-tank monitors the
Palestinian political pulse through periodic
surveys, found that "the vast majority" of
refugees were willing to accept monetary
compensation in lieu of a return to homes and
land they abandoned or were forced to flee when
Israel was established in the 1948 Arab-Israeli
war.

"This is a message for everyone not to tamper
with our rights," one angry refugee said as
others trashed the offices of Shikaki's
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey
Research.

Palestinian police intervened to calm tempers,
but Shikaki, his shirt stained by egg yolk,
aborted the press conference he had called at
his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah to
announce the results of his survey.

"They did not even see the results," Shikaki
told Reuters as he mopped egg from his face. He
was not hurt.

Shikaki said in earlier comments to reporters
that his poll found most refugees scattered
across the Middle East would be prepared to
accept compensation and a new life in a
Palestinian state and did not expect to return
to their former homes.

Around 700,000 Palestinians became refugees when
Israel was established in 1948. Their numbers
have swelled to over four million living in
refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip,
Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel opposes the return of the refugees which
it says would reduce the Jews to a minority in
the Jewish state, where there are currently
some five million Jews and one million Arabs.

The refugees and many Palestinians publicly say
there can be no peace with Israel until Israel
recognizes the refugees' right of return.

The issue of refugees is so emotive that it was
left until the final stage of negotiations when
Israel and the Palestine Liberation
Organization signed the Oslo peace accords in
1993.

Few Palestinian politicians have been prepared
to suggest the refugees waive the right of
return. One official, Sari Nusseibeh, lost
popularity among Palestinians when he suggested
the right of return was not realistic.