| Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed in a closed meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to allow 20,000 Palestinian refugees to return back into Israel in exchange for ending Palestinian intifada, a report said yesterday. The Palestinian independent news agency MaÂ’an cited Israeli sources as saying that the implementation of this offer will be part of a two-state solution and will remain at abeyance until the Palestinian Authority becomes more powerful. The report did not say what was the criterion used to arrive at the 20,000 figure or whether the remainder of the Palestinians and their descendants displaced by the creation of the state of Israel would be monetarily compensated. |