Cilina Nasser reviews the Lebanese and Syrian leg of the tour of Arab states by senior Palestinian officials Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PLO, and Ahmed Qurei, Palestinian prime minister, made fence-mending trips to Lebanon and Syria last week to garner support for the new Palestinian leadership and to help ease the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The landmark visit by senior Palestinian officials to Lebanon was the first since Yasser Arafat and PLO fighters were forced to evacuate the country during Israel's 1982 invasion. It is the first to Syria since 1996. Officials in Damascus and Beirut received the Palestinian delegation warmly and expressed their willingness to work with the new Palestinian leadership. Abbas, the front-runner in Palestinian presidential elections, called for Palestinian embassies to be opened in Beirut and Damascus and said that Syrian and Lebanese officials had welcomed the idea. After separate meetings with President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Omar Karami and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berr he spoke of "a positive page" in Lebanese-Palestinian relations. Abbas also called on Syria and Lebanon to hold ongoing consultations with the Palestinian Authority. "We heard good words and you will see them in reality concerning the refugee issue. Probably, some measures have been taken which you will see on the ground," Abbas said without elaborating. Palestinians are currently forbidden to work in more than 70 professions, including medicine, law and engineering. There are 400,000 Palestinians registered as refugees in Lebanon according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Following a 2002 amendment to the Lebanese property law Palestinians are barred from real estate ownership while those who already own property cannot pass it on to their children. The amendment was passed in response to growing concerns that granting civil rights to Palestinians would lead to their permanent settlement and a destabilising of the delicate sectarian balance between Lebanon's Muslims and Christians. The majority of refugees are Muslim. "The Lebanese authorities have always rejected calls to improve the situation of Palestinians and, therefore, to put this issue on the table for debate is very positive," said Sakr Abu Fakhr, a writer and researcher at the Institute for Palestine Studies. The Palestinian delegation arrived in Beirut from Damascus where Abbas, Qurei and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath met Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in a move described by observers as marking new era in Syrian-Palestinian relations. They have been strained since the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace accords. Both Syria and Lebanon considered Oslo a unilateral agreement with Israel that weakened the Arab position. The meeting followed Al-Assad's offer to re- start negotiations with Israel after they collapsed almost five years ago. Abu Fakhr told Al-Ahram Weekly that Abbas's visit to Syria and Lebanon was intended to reassure the leaders of both countries that he would not give in to Israeli pressure and would follow the fixed principles of the Palestinian cause. Abbas, who is favoured by the United States, was accused of being an easy negotiator with the Israelis during his tenure as prime minister in 2003. "He came here to deny that and to confirm that he will not abandon the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homeland and the Palestinian right to Jerusalem as its capital," said Abu Fakhr. Qurei vowed to continue the struggle until Palestinian refugees return to their homeland in accordance with UN Resolution 194. He told a crowd of Palestinians in the Rashidieh refugee camp in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre: "All of Arafat's principles, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the right of return must be pursued by every Palestinian." He was speaking on behalf of Abbas, whose arrival at the camp was delayed for health reasons. "We will not compromise over this right. We will cling to it and we will struggle for it." The Palestinian delegation also met Hamas politbureau chief Khaled Mishaal, who is based in Damascus, as part of the ongoing drive to pressure the Islamic resistance group into suspending attacks against Israel. Abu Fakhr believes the thaw in relations between Syria and the PA will have a "positive impact" on diplomatic efforts aimed at resuming negotiations with Israel. "Syria will pressure Hamas to agree to a ceasefire between Palestinian factions and Israel to enable Abbas to succeed in his negotiating efforts with the Israelis or at least to avoid messing the political path," said Abu Fakhr. In their talks with Lebanese and Syrian officials the Palestinian delegation also raised the thorny issue of Fatah's property in Syria and Lebanon. Syrian and Lebanese authorities turned a blind eye when members of Fatah were pressured into selling properties at prices well below market values.
