Middle East Monitor / July 21, 2020
Leader of the Lebanese Free Patriotic Movement and former Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on Sunday called for expelling Palestinian refugees from the country, Arab48 reported.
After a meeting with the Maronite Patriarch, Mar Bechara al-Rahi, Bassil said that Lebanon would be able to be neutral if it expelled “explosive opponents” in the country.
He pointed out that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are part of these “explosive opponents” and they should be forced out.
The alliance of the Palestinian factions, which include most of the Palestinian factions in Lebanon, condemned the remarks and called for confronting all the “racist” propaganda campaigns, which incite “hatred and racism”.
In a statement, the alliance stressed on rejecting dealing with the Palestinian refugees the same way as dealing with Israel, which occupied the Palestinian and Arab lands.
The alliance reiterated the refugees’ right to return to their homeland where they were forced out by the Israeli occupation and called for the creation of a free Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
