Abbas’ advisor: “Refugees” from Gaza “should return” to Israel, all else is “unrealistic, immoral, illegal”
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "More than 70% of the civilians living in the Gaza Strip are refugees whose families were expelled in 1948 during the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the establishment of Israel). They were expelled from Palestine. Any uprooting of them, any leaving by them from the Gaza Strip should be a return to their cities and villages from which their families were expelled in 1948. Anything other than this is unrealistic, immoral, illegal, inhumane, unimplementable, and the Palestinians cannot agree to it."
[PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash, YouTube channel, Feb. 16, 2025]
Al-Habbash's statement is a reaction to a plan for Gaza put forth by US President Donald Trump during the 2023 Gaza war: