Representatives from Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization convened in the Jordanian capital of Amman this week for their first meeting to discuss the return of Palestinians displaced by the 1967 Six- Day War.
Differences in Israeli and Arab expectations from the meeting were evident in how each side described the session.
The Israeli term, led by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, called the session an “informal consultation meeting,” while the Arab leaders referred to it as a formal attempt to solve the problem of displaced persons.
The Palestinians, along with Egypt and Jordan, prepared a position paper proposing a timetable for the return of displaced Palestinians to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said there was no dispute over the question of their right to return.
Provisions for the return of displaced Palestinians were included in both the 1978 Camp David Accords and in the Declaration of Principles signed by Israel and the Palestinians in Washington in September 1993.
During Tuesday’s meeting in Amman, Palestinian chief negotiator Nabil Sha’ath called on Israel to make a goodwill gesture by allowing the immediate return to the territories of 100 Palestinian families.
But Peres called for caution and “a realistic solution.”
“We must take care not to solve one problem by complicating others,” he said in his opening statement before the gathering.
Peres stressed that the Palestinian Authority must take into account socioeconomic conditions in the self-rule areas under its control and its ability to absorb a large number of Palestinians.
He called on the Palestinian leadership to seek international financial assistance in building the infrastructure needed to integrate returning Palestinians.
The actual number of Palestinians displaced by the 1976 Six-Day War has been a source of dispute.
The Palestinians have estimated the number of those displaced, as well as their offspring, at about 800,000.
Israel, which does not include descendants in its count, puts the figure closer to 200,000.
Israel has pressed for a gradual return, and is believed to have offered compensation to those Palestinians who choose not to return.
Not on the agenda for the Amman meeting is the fate of the Palestinian refugees from the 1948 War of Independence.
U.N. estimates put the number of refugees and their descendants at 2.7 million people.
That issue is slated to be discussed in direct negotiations in 1996.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers protesting the talks in Amman staged a mock Palestinian return in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
Several dozen settlers dressed as Palestinians rented two light aircraft and landed at the Atarot Airport north of Jerusalem.
They waled off the airplane chanting slogans from the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, and offered mock praise for Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.
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