West Bank ready to receive Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry stressed Sunday readiness to accommodate Palestinian refugees into the West Bank, particularly those fleeing war-torn Syria.

The ministry said in a statement that "despite limited and humble resources, we are ready to open all Palestinians' houses to welcome those who venture into a new refuge, or risk the unknown."

It added that the Palestinians have the right to live in their homeland and not in exile or turning from one refugee camp to another.

Meanwhile, Israeli politicians expressed opposing views on how Israel should handle the Syrian refugees' crisis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while Israel has helped wounded Syrian in the past four years amid the Syrian civil war, it could not take in Syrian refugees into its territory.

"Israel is not indifferent to the human tragedy of the refugees from Syria and Africa. but Israel is a small country, a very small country that lacks demographic and geographic depth," Netanyahu said in the weekly cabinet meeting, according to a statement issued by his office.

However, opposition leader Isaac Herzog turned to social media to express his objection. "The prime minister of the Jewish nation can't close his heart and the gates when people are fleeing for the lives, pursued by hunters, with babies in their hands."

Israel considers the issue of refugees as the main obstacle of the peace process, while the Palestinians see that the obstacle is the settlements Israel is building on the Palestinian lands.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged the international community, particularly European states, to exercise pressure on Israel to allow the entry of Palestinian refugees coming from Syria.

It also called for providing the Palestinian government with sufficient financial resources to accommodate the refugees in a humanitarian and decent way.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called upon the UN on Saturday to take action to pressure Israel to absorb displaced Palestinian refugees into the Palestinian territories.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) said Saturday it is working to prevent the Palestinian refugees from seeking a risky refuge in Europe.

PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani told Xinhua that the PLO's initiative comes amidst the dangers of the refugees' journeys that "led hundreds of them to drown to death."

He said that a second refugee journey could jeopardize the Palestinian right of return, granted by UN resolution no. 194.

Official Palestinian data estimated the number of UN-registered refugees until the end of 2014 at over 5 million, 40 percent of them live in refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the rest is scattered in camps in Syrian, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries. Endit