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Source: https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Is-the-Palestinian-refugee-problem-overblown-567173
Can the Palestinian Right of Return Issue Be Solved?
(Jerusalem Post) Tovah Lazaroff - A number of Israeli and U.S. negotiators involved in the talks that stemmed from the Oslo agreement, including Camp David and Taba, have said that at no time did they calculate the granting of an absolute right of return to the Palestinians. Former justice minister Yossi Beilin, who held secret talks in 1995 with now-PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said it was understood in those talks that only a small number of Palestinians could return. Former U.S. negotiator Dennis Ross said that during the Oslo years the Clinton administration operated under the "rule of reason," in which it held that a Jewish state could not, and should not have to, absorb so many refugees. Gilead Sher, who was part of the Israeli delegation involved in the Oslo Accords and headed the negotiation team at the Camp David summit in 2000, said the issue "was not the first priority of the Palestinian negotiators." Once a permanent-status agreement was signed, he added, it was agreed that UNRWA would be phased out.