1/8/2023-|Last update: 1/8/202306:05 PM (Mecca Time)
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported renewed clashes in a number of neighborhoods of the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon, southern Lebanon, after a period of calm that followed a ceasefire agreement.
And while the head of the Lebanese caretaker government, Najib Mikati, refused to use his country as an arena to settle scores, the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, called for stopping the fighting in any way in the camp and resorting to the judiciary, describing what is happening there as “painful because it affects everyone and includes displacement and bloodshed.”
The camp witnessed violent clashes between Islamic groups and the Palestinian National Security Forces affiliated with Fatah movement, which resulted in killing 11 people and injuring more than 60 others since last Saturday.
The clashes also caused the interruption of basic services for the residents of the camp – especially electricity – and it was not possible to bring in food and relief supplies due to the activity of snipers.
Pictures obtained by Al-Jazeera from inside the camp showed the extent of the damage, especially in the Hittin and Bustan al-Quds neighborhoods in the camp.
According to Palestinian sources, the clashes have led to an increase in the number of displaced families from the camp, where about 80,000 Palestinian refugees live, to about a thousand families.
The sources added that the clashes led to the destruction of the infrastructure of water, electricity, sewage, roads, burning and damage to about 700 homes, in addition to damage to property, shops and vehicles.
After a meeting in Sidon, Palestinian and Lebanese factions and parties reached an agreement on a cease-fire and the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets of the camp.
It was also agreed to form a committee to investigate the circumstances of the assassination of the Palestinian National Security Commander in Sidon, Major General Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi.
The Mufti of the city of Sidon and its region in southern Lebanon, Salim Soussan, called for an immediate ceasefire in the camp, and called for adherence to what was agreed upon in this regard, during an expanded meeting of the Lebanese political and religious authorities in the Sidon region.
Settling scores
Meanwhile, the head of the Lebanese caretaker government, Najib Mikati, said that there is a serious ceasefire in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, but he pointed out that there are parties outside the agreement that have been constantly violating it, as he put it.
During his presidency of a session of his government, Mikati affirmed his refusal to use the Lebanese arena to settle what he called external accounts at the expense of his country, and indicated that the Lebanese army is doing its duty to address the situation in Ain al-Hilweh camp, stressing that what is happening is unacceptable as it perpetuates the camp as a focus outside the control of the state, according to him.
For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas affirmed his support for the measures taken by the government and army in Lebanon to impose law and order following the clashes in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.
Abbas stressed, in a telephone conversation with the head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, Sami Gemayel, that the Palestinian presence is temporary until the return to the Palestinian territories, stressing Lebanon’s role in supporting the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause in international forums.
scheme for sedition
And in Gaza, the National and Islamic Forces Committee demanded today, Tuesday, an immediate end to the clashes that have been taking place for two days in Ain al-Hilweh camp, and stressed during a sit-in in Gaza the seriousness of the ongoing clashes as “a plan to ignite discord inside the camp and spread chaos in it in order to end the Palestinian presence in the refugee camps.”
The forces issued an “urgent appeal to all the conflicting parties to stop the bleeding of Palestinian blood in Ain al-Hilweh camp, by immediately stopping the ongoing clashes, in order to save Palestinian blood.”
She also stressed the necessity of “prohibiting resorting to arms by signing a national pact that includes all the components in the camp, adopting the language of dialogue when resolving any problem, whatever it may be, and missing the opportunity for all the suspicious parties that stand behind provoking this incident.”
The National and Islamic Forces Committee called for “holding accountable all those found involved in awakening this cursed sedition, and cooperating with the Lebanese authorities in this matter to bring those involved to justice.”
Clashes between rival groups are common in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, home to more than 54,000 Palestinian refugees, joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Syria.
Under a tacit agreement dating back to many years, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian camps, leaving the task of maintaining security in them to the Palestinians themselves inside.
Ain al-Hilweh camp is the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon, and extremists and fugitives from justice take refuge in it.
It is noteworthy that more than 450,000 Palestinians are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, and most of them live in 12 official refugee camps, often in miserable conditions and facing legal restrictions.
2023-08-01 15:15:59
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