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Last update - 20:28 25/09/2008
Lebanese President to Bush: Palestinian refugees' future is in their homeland, not Lebanon
By Reuters
Tags: refugees, Palestinian 

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Thursday emphasized his country's claim to territory held by Israel and told U.S. President George W. Bush the future of Palestinian refugees was in their homeland, not Lebanon.

Suleiman, the former army chief elected president in May, thanked Bush during an Oval Office visit for supporting Lebanon's military institutions and said the country, which has been plagued by bombings and assassinations, was working "very hard to combat terror."

"We are also here to reaffirm the need to liberate all Lebanese territories and also to make it very clear that the future of Palestinian refugees is in their homeland, not in
L
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ebanon," Suleiman told Bush through a translator.

"We believe that this is in the interest of Lebanon as well as in the interest of the Palestinian people themselves," he said.

Beirut's national unity government approved a policy in early August that gives the Hezbollah militant group as well as the government the right to use all means necessary to regain control over Israeli lands claimed by Lebanon.

Lebanon and Syria say the Shaba Farms area, captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, belongs to Lebanon. Israel and the United Nations say Shaba Farms is Syrian territory.

Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist group by the United States but leads the opposition in Lebanon's parliament.

Reconciliation talks among the country's political and sectarian factions are looking at what role Iranian-armed Hezbollah militia should play in defending Lebanon and how its military might be brought under state control.

The return of thousands of Palestinian refugees from Lebanon is one of several key sticking points in reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Bush had been pressing for an agreement by the end of the year, which is unlikely.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in August that Israel would not agree to the return of Palestinians refugees to what is now Israeli territory as part of a Mideast accord. His remarks came after rumors that Israel had agreed to accept 20,000 refugees over 10 years.

Bush, in welcoming Suleiman to the White House, said he had carefully monitored the Lebanese leader's statements upon taking office and was impressed.

The Lebanese president this month opened a national dialogue to try to reconcile political and sectarian factions whose rivalry pushed the country to the brink of civil war in May.

"We're most impressed by the national dialogue that you're holding and attempts to seek reconciliation," Bush said.

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  1.   The reality at the end of the Bush/Rice regime 20:54  |  Arie 25/09/08
  2.   Your homeland is where you`re born 21:56  |  x-ray 25/09/08
  3.   RE arei 21:59  |  Farid 25/09/08
  4.   #1 Arie 22:09  |  Lou Medel 25/09/08
  5.   so they have to go back to Jordan then 22:50  |  steve from raleigh 25/09/08
  6.   Bush 23:10  |  northern neighbor 25/09/08
  7.   # 3 Lou Medel....no, the rest of the world doesn`t 23:15  |  Lynn 25/09/08
  8.   #4, Tables could easily be turned to your detriment 23:23  |  Jake 25/09/08
  9.   Naive, This guy is with Hezzbolah 00:12  |  Laila 26/09/08
  10.   Lou`s Batle for Legitimacy 01:17  |  Tex 26/09/08
  11.   Hizbullah is a legitimate resistance group 01:55  |  Matt 26/09/08
  12.   Let Syria annex Lebanon 02:32  |  Emile Ghoul 26/09/08
  13.   to X-ray..what racism? 03:30  |  Say it now 26/09/08
  14.   Matt #8 03:41  |  Free Gilad Shalit 26/09/08
  15.   Bigest terrorists groups are Hizbulla & Hamas 03:58  |  Lori 26/09/08
  16.   arie 2 06:33  |  potobac 26/09/08
  17.   Not much room to talk Lou #4 13:26  |  MaryRose 26/09/08
  18.   if they are syrian then give them back 14:14  |  american 26/09/08
  19.   American-Arab, you only give back land after peace agreement. 15:23  |  I 26/09/08
  20.   Freedom Fighter = Terrorist 18:27  |  Al 26/09/08
  21.   Lou(4), being the rest of the world is all right! 21:50  |  Jew- and Bookburner 26/09/08
  22.   Palestinians are Arabs and their Homeland is in the ARABIAN 23:33  |  Josephus 26/09/08
  23.   To Al # 21 - Let`s be civilised...... 00:54  |  Dagma 27/09/08
  24.   Homeland? What Homeland? 01:06  |  FulghumInk 27/09/08
  25.   Arabs just love their Palestinian brethren 09:19  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 27/09/08
  26.   To Dagma - #23 16:37  |  Al 27/09/08
  27.   To Al # 23 - NO! We are dealing here with a Fiendish Crowd 18:59  |  Dagma 27/09/08
  28.   you will know its their homeland when you are about to evict it 19:10  |  Reza Shah 27/09/08
  29.   #26 AI: Re. Your Ghandi analogy 19:59  |  Bad Odour 27/09/08
  30.   RE: #23 00:07  |  Koby 28/09/08
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