Thousands of Palestinian refugees get to see their leaders for first time in two decades.

(From AP Worldstream)

Byline: SAM F. GHATTAS

Palestinian refugees on Thursday got their first close look at their top political leaders in 22 years, winning reassurances that the right to return home _ a key sticking point through years of peace negotiations with Israel _ will not be abandoned.

The flag-waving rally here for the new Palestine Liberation Organization leader, Mahmoud Abbas, had all the trappings of a campaign stop with a crucial constituency. But the refugees that Abbas met with can't vote in the Palestinian elections scheduled for January.

And in a stark testimony to the difficulties that lay ahead for the new Palestinian leadership, Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia stayed away from the largest refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, where rival Palestinian factions are heavily present.

Under heavy guard, they instead laid a wreath at a martyrs' monument at a nearby square in the southern city of Sidon in the presence of about 700 people, before moving on to Rashidiyeh where their Fatah loyalists dominate.

Hundreds of uniformed and armed guerrillas were deployed in the narrow streets of the Rashidiyeh camp near the southern port city of Tyre to protect the leaders.