Palestinian Authority official: Refugee camps are "waiting stations" until returning to wipe out Israel

• Top PA official Rajoub: The return of Palestinian refugees "to their homeland" is "a condition for achieving regional stability and global peace"

• Abbas' advisor: "Refugees" from Gaza "should return" to Israel, anything else is "unrealistic, immoral, illegal"

• PLO official: "[UN] Resolution 194 enshrines the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes from which they were expelled in 1948"

The Palestinian Authority is adamant about overflowing Israel with Palestinian "refugees" and thereby putting an end to Israel as a Jewish state. According to the PA, not only Palestinians who fled during Israel's War of Independence in 1948 but also all of their descendants have a so-called "right of return".

The PA slogan that "the refugee camps are waiting stations" is heard repeatedly:

Tulkarem District Governor Abdallah Kmeil: "We send a message to our beloved ones in the Nour Shams refugee camp and to our beloved ones in the Tulkarem refugee camp, and also to our sisters and brothers in the Jenin refugee camp... We hear your cries... These cries that say: We stand here firm, and these refugee camps are waiting stations until each of us reaches his city and village from which he was expelled."

[Tulkarem Governorate, Facebook page, Jan. 1, 2026]

Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that PA Chairman Abbas, who was born in Safed in northern Israel, stressed that "one day I will return, the right of return is a sacred right… Palestine is ours."  Palestinian scouts also are taught that "the refugee camp is a waiting station" only.

One of the PA's top officials, Jibril Rajoub, even conditioned "regional stability and global peace" on the return of Palestinian refugees "to their homeland": 

Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub: "We are at the start of 2026, which we hope will be the year of ending the Palestinian people's suffering, at least with the establishment of a fully sovereign independent Palestinian state, and ending the suffering of the Palestinian refugees with their return to their homeland as a condition for achieving regional stability and global peace."

[Sada Al-Balad (Egyptian news website), YouTube channel, Jan. 30, 2026]

Abbas' advisor on religious affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has argued that "70%" of the Gazan population should "return" to Israel, as he claims they are "refugees":

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]

The PA claims that the "right of return" of all residents of refugee camps is "guaranteed" by UNGA Resolution 194, while ignoring both its various conditions, as well as the fact that General Assembly resolutions are non-binding.

Furthermore, the PA links the "right of return" to its demands for statehood – meaning that it has always rejected the notion that any "refugees" would be absorbed into a Palestinian state in any future two-state scenario.

PMW has exposed that the PA sees UNRWA as a political tool and a vehicle for the so called "right of return." Abbas' Fatah Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine recently concluded they share a common goal of helping UNRWA with "its continued operation until the return of the Palestinian refugees":

"The Fatah Movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)… emphasized the importance of UNRWA's role and the rejection of the Israeli measures against it, and demanded the continuation of its role, support for its missions, and sufficient funding to ensure its continued operation until the return of the Palestinian refugees, based on [UN] Resolution 194."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 13, 2026]

Likewise, PLO Executive Committee member and head of the PLO Department of Refugee Affairs Ahmad Abu Houli recently stressed that:

"UNRWA's services cannot be replaced or relinquished until a political solution to the refugee issue is found in accordance with Resolution 194, which enshrines the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes from which they were expelled in 1948, as UNRWA is the political witness to the refugee issue and the living witness to the tragedy and Nakba of our people."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 21, 2025]