Nasrallah warns against exploiting Bahrain economic conference to settle Palestinians

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday warned that the upcoming economic conference in Bahrain next month as part of the US administration's Middle East peace plan is a step towards settling Palestinian refugees.

On June 25 and 26, the Bahraini capital will host an economic conference focusing on the economic aspects of the US peace plan. The Palestinian Authority, which rejects the plan, has announced that it will not participate in the conference.

"We are all concerned with taking the historic responsibility in the face of this ominous deal aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause," Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking the 19th anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Nasrallah called for an urgent meeting between Lebanese and Palestinian officials in Lebanon to "develop a plan to confront the danger of resettlement and creeping next."

"The most important issue that the conference and the economic orientation that he wishes to discuss there might be," he said. "It may open the door wide and wide to the question of settling the Palestinian brothers in Lebanon and the rest of the countries in which they are located."

"We are at a stage where it is not enough to say that we are all against resettlement," he said. "The threat of resettlement is very close to the Lebanese and the Palestinians in Lebanon."

It is noteworthy that Lebanon hosts - according to the latest statistic published by the Lebanese government - 174 thousand Palestinian refugees distributed in 12 camps. These depend mainly on the services of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Palestinians fear the US peace plan will be biased in favor of Israel. The Palestinian government has repeatedly rejected it, saying earlier that "anyone who believes that the deal of the century will pass will be delusional."

The Palestinian Authority announced that no one had consulted on the economic conference, stressing that no party was entitled to negotiate on its behalf. A number of Palestinian businessmen also announced their rejection of invitations to attend the conference.