Palestinian presidential favourite Mr Mahmoud Abbas vowed today never to give up the late Yasser Arafat's bedrock demand that Israel recognise a "right of return" of Palestinian refugees.
The issue was a key factor in the collapse of peace talks in 2000. US President George W. Bush last April publicly embraced Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon's position that refugees be allowed into any new Palestinian state but not into Israel.
"We promise that we will not rest until the right of return of our people is achieved and the tragedy of our diaspora ends," Mr Abbas told a session of parliament held to mourn Arafat, who died of an undisclosed illness in France on November 11th.
"We will stick to Palestinian steadfastness in support of the dream you (Arafat) lived for and you promised to your people," said Mr Abbas in an apparent effort to build credibility among hardliners and the weighty refugee constituency.
Mr Abbas (69) as a boy was among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who left or were forced out by Israel's 1948 creation.
International hopes of a revival of peacemaking have risen with the death of former guerrilla leader Arafat, the moderate Mr Abbas's candidacy to succeed him in a January 9th election and hints of an easing in Israel's military occupation to permit voting.
A day after talks in the area with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell told CNN he was confident they could "move more aggressively" down a peace "road map" if "they have good cooperation and a good election".
Such progress, Mr Powell said, was predicated on "no increase in terrorism", a reference to suicide bombings by Palestinian militants that have stalled the road map charting reciprocal steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state in 2005.