If you are a Palestinian refugee and have family ties to the West Bank, you may be in luck. In an apparent move to bolster the government of Mahmoud Abbas, which has been losing its footing in the Palestinian territories, the Israeli government is allowing “a number” of Palestinian refugees to settle in the West Bank (and the West Bank only – NOT Gaza), under “certain circumstances.” The article in the New York Times which reports this latest development, thus proves what experts have been warning us about over the past few weeks: The refugees stand to become a political pawn in the conflicts that plague the region.
