Lebanon’s Palestinians Hold on to Arms, Fear Future
Mon Mar 7,11:31 AM ET World – Reuters
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
SIDON, Lebanon (Reuters) – Palestinian Ahmad Abu Aloul clutches his AK-47 assault rifle, saying he will not give it up till those who killed thousands of his fellow refugees in Lebanon’s bloody civil war are brought to justice.
In the teeming Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp, political tensions are rekindling memories of massacres of Palestinians by right-wing Christian militias during the 1975-1990 civil war.
“None of the perpetrators of the crimes against us has been put on trial and only after they are brought to justice will we hand our weapons. Before that we have no guarantees,” said Aloul, a former guerrilla who defended the camp against both Lebanese militias and Israeli attacks.
The fear among residents is they will become the scapegoat for the tensions over the presence of Syrian forces in Lebanon. Lebanon and Syria agreed Monday Syrian forces would redeploy to eastern Lebanon before withdrawing completely.
“Our old Lebanese enemies will vent their frustrations on us and again say we are destroying the country. Whatever happens they will throw thousands of charges against us,” said Aloul, from the dominant Fatah (news – web sites) faction in the camp, the largest of 12 dotted across the country.
Others fear an end to Syria’s military presence in Lebanon could destabilize Lebanon and draw the Palestinians again into new conflicts.
“I fear a civil war is looming and it is our right to defend ourselves so that there is no repeat to the massacres that happened in the past,” said Faris Sabea, among hundreds of armed youths inside the camp.
“I saw Shatila with my own eyes the cut off heads and women killed in cold blood,” said Sabea. He was 13 years old when he survived the 1982 bloodbath in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila camps in which thousands of Palestinian refugees were slaughtered by Christian militia supported by occupying Israeli forces.
Some 350,000 Palestinian refugees are registered in Lebanon, part of a diaspora that spread through the Middle East when they lost their homes with the creation of Israel.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
The issues of arms inside the camps has again come to the fore as Lebanon comes under pressure to disarm all militias in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.
“All the Arab states have become a security barrier for Israel. Before the Jews killed us in Lebanon it was the Arabs who did,” said Abdullah Safouri, 50, a camp elder.
The scars of mortar blasts and bullets still pock-mark the buildings of the sprawling camp an hour’s drive from the Israeli border. Camp dwellers say they are feeling increasingly unwelcome, regarded by many with hostility.
“Whenever there is a shock in the country the Lebanese state steps up its harassment,” said Jamal Taha, 36, a shopkeeper. They cite more harassment in recent weeks by Lebanese army soldiers manning the entrances of the camp, resembling a prison with its barbed wire boundaries encircled by tanks.
“You might spend half an hour on a checkpoint to get your identity card checked. They sometimes detain youths for hours before releasing them,” Ibrahim Sameh, 28, a car mechanic said.
“We are living under siege. We are choked here inside the camp. It’s a big prison,” said Iyad Syed, 24, a carpenter.
Lebanon denies them citizenship, property rights and work, fearing refugees may eventually be settled in Lebanon for good.
“My dream is to go back to Palestine. My future here is lost,” said Yasser Abu Layla, 18, as he clings to his weapon which he says is a source of pride amid poverty and destitution.