Lebanon launches process to disarm Palestinian factions in refugee camps | Palestinian Authority News

3 Min Read

Process launched after the visit of the Palestinian President Abbas, who said that the weapons ‘hurt’ the Lebanon and the cause of Palestine.

A luster-Palestinian joint committee in charge of eliminating weapons from the Palestinian factions in the Refugee Camps of Lebanon first to start making a schedule to disarm the groups.

The Lebanon-Palestinian dialogue committee, a government agency that serves as an interlocutor between refugees and Palestinian officials, with Friday with the assistance of Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The group said that “the participants agreed to launch a process for the disarmament of weapons according to a specific schedule.”

He added that it also aims to take measures to “improve the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees.”

A Lebanese government source told the AFP news agency that it is disarmed in the 12 official camps for the country for Palestinian refugees, which house multiple Palestinian features, including Fatah, its Hamas rivals and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

According to a decades agreement, the Lebanese authorities do not control the camps, where security is administered by Palestinian factions.

The meeting occurs when the Lebanese government faces a growing international pressure to eliminate weapons of the Lebanese armed group aligned in Iran Hezbollah, who fought against a war with Israel last year.

“The message is clear. There is a new era, a new balance of power and a new leadership in Lebanon, which is advancing with monopolization of weapons in the hands of the state,” said Zeina Khodr of Al Jazeera, which reports from Beirut.

“Hezbollah’s military infrastructure has already begun to dismantle in the south of Lebanon, and the next phase seems to be the disarmament of Palestinian groups in the camps before addressing the issue of Hezbollah weapons.”

Earlier this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, dominated by his Fatah party, visited Lebanon and said in a speech that weapons in the fields “hurt Lebanon and the Palestinian cause.”

During the visit of Abbas, he and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun announced an agreement that the Palestinian factions would not use Lebanon as a pitcher for any attacks against Israel, and that weapons would consolidate under the authority of the Lebanese government.

Khodr de Al Jazeera said several factions seemed to be against disarmament.

“While Abbas’s Palestinian authority can be recognized internationally as the representative body of the Palestinian people, there are many armed groups, including Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, who … believes in the armed struggle against Israel, “he said.

“Without consensus among the factions, stability could remain difficult.”

About The Author