Along with the return to 1967 borders and the future fate of Jerusalem, the “right of return” completes the trifecta of Palestinian demands for peace with Israel. They demand that all Arabs and/or their descendents who fled Israel during the Israeli independence war of 1948 should be given full Israeli citizenship.

A group of Iraqis recently given Israeli citizenship assert they are descendents of Arabs who lived in the British Mandate of Palestine and claim to still have family ties in the Palestinian controlled areas of Israel. On this basis, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to allow their immigration to Israel.

An estimated 5 million Arabs fall into this category. If their “right of return” is approved, the result would be the end of the Jewish majority in Israel, thus undermining Israel’s status as a Jewish state.

While Israel will probably never accept such a large number back into the state, now that 41 have proved it is possible, other Arabs will be lining up.

Already, the Palestinian minister of information, Riad Maliki, told the Ma’an News Agency that now that he had “succeeded in returning part of them,” the Palestinian government will pursue negotiations with the Israeli government to return another 18,000 Palestinian refugees from Iraq.

By absorbing just 41 so-called refugees back into Israel for the sake of propping up Abbas, the Olmert government has opened a can of worms that will continue to eat away at Israel’s demographic Jewish majority until someone slams it back shut.

The precedent has been set. While the victory seems small, the Palestinian information minister told Associated Press it was “symbolic.”

This decision may have temporarily bolstered Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas, but it is bound to come crashing down on Israel. Fatah explains on its own website that “to us, the refugees issue is the winning card which means the end of the Israeli state.” With this in mind, it is no wonder all other Israeli governments rejected the issue of Palestinian right of return. This latest goodwill gesture by the current Israeli government is just another step toward the demise of Israel.