We’ve hosted you & no longer want you, trash!...”

“We’ve hosted you and no longer want you,” the mufti told stunned members of the Palestinian delegation.

Accusing Palestinians of “usurping” Wakf lands to build houses, Sheikh Qabbani told his visitors: “I will defend Wakf lands even if that costs me all what I have.”Attempts by the Palestinian representatives to clam the mufti further enraged the top religious official, who at one point shouted at them: “You are trash. You [Palestinians] will never be victorious. Nor will your cause. I’m no longer afraid of your weapons.”

The Palestinian delegates said they were extremely shocked by the mufti’s abusive language and threats.“He called us trash,” one of them said. “He didn’t even give us time to respond to his allegations.”Samir Abu Afash, Secretary-General of the PLO in Beirut, said he sent a report to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about the mufti’s remarks. 

Abbas instructed the Palestinian representatives to refrain from a confrontation with Sheikh Qabbani out of fear that such a move would escalate tensions between the two sides.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora later phoned Fathi Abu al-Aradat to apologize on behalf of the mufti..."

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