BEIRUT, Dec 8: Palestinian leaders arrived in Beirut on Wednesday on the first such visit to Lebanon in more than two decades, following a similar fence-mending trip to Syria.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chief Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei immediately went to lay wreaths at a Palestinian refugee camp cemetery south of Beirut.

Dozens of flag-waving refugees greeted them at Shatila, one of two camps where massacres took place during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. They are expected to meet President Emile Lahoud, parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Omar Karameh and tour various Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut and southern Lebanon.

The visit is the first by the Palestinian leadership since Yasser Arafat was forced out of Lebanon a year after the 1982 invasion. The visit was meant to pave the ground for improved ties with Lebanon, still reeling from the devastating effects of the 1975-1990 civil war.

About 400,000 Palestinian refugees are registered in Lebanon, with more than half of them living in miserable conditions in 12 refugee camps across the country.

In Syria, Mr Abbas held talks on Monday with the leaders of Damascus-based hard line Palestinian opposition groups as well as President Bashar al Assad during his first official Palestinian visit to the country since 1996. -AFP