Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas countered Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's refusal to allow Palestinian refugees to return in any final status talks.

Sharon said in New York Monday that there will be no right of return for Palestinian refugees in any permanent peace agreement.

In response, Abbas said in an official statement that the refugee issue must be included in any final status talks with Israel.

Abbas stressed that the refugee issue must be solve in line with the internationally acknowledged road map peace plan and United Nations Resolution 194.

In a speech to a group of Jewish Americans in New York, Sharon also reiterated that Israel will hold on to three larger settlement blocs in the West Bank despite a planned pullout from all Gaza and part of the West Bank in mid-August.

Abbas added during his visit to Washington, he will ask US President George W. Bush to provide more political and economic support for the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Abbas is due to meet Bush on May 26, the first of a Palestinian president to meet Bush since 2000.

Source: Xinhua