BEIRUT: Palestinian refugees subjected to tighter checks recently by Lebanese troops around their camps in South Lebanon say they feel unfairly blamed for insecurity in Lebanon and fear no one will protect them if they disarm.
However, a Lebanese-Palestinian security agreement was reached in Sidon addressing tough measures adopted by Lebanese Army units guarding the entrances to the city’s Ain Al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp.
The agreement will facilitate the reopening of two additional transit points on either side of the camp.
All the 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon are off limits to the army, but a nine-day clamp down has been in effect ever after Defence Minister Elias Murr accused militants in the camps of involvement in a failed attempt to kill him with a car bomb recently.
“The accusations are not new. We are blamed for everything that goes wrong here,” said Ghada Othman from the camp.
Security sources say the army’s overall security measures will not change. Cars will remain subject to searches, and the army will continue to record the names of people and drivers passing in and out of the Ain Al Hilweh camp.
But sources added army members have been given instructions to carry out the procedures as quickly as possible in an effort to impress camp residents that the new measures are purely preventative and not aimed at them.
Such measures had nothing to do with the UN Security Council Resolution 1559 or with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent visit to Lebanon, the sources insisted.
The estimated 390,000 refugees in Lebanon are acutely aware of mounting pressure on Palestinian armed factions to give up their weapons in line with Resolution 1559 which demands the dissolution of all militias in Lebanon.
Palestinian officials insist the factions gave up their heavy weaponry at the end of civil war under an agreement with the government and now have only small arms for personal security.
The UN resolution adopted in September is also aimed at disarming the Hizbollah that helped force Israel to end a 22-year occupation of South Lebanon in 2000. But while Hizbollah remains a formidable military and political force, the Palestinians feel weak and defenceless.
“The truth is that Palestinians do not trust the UN, the Arab League or any other organization to protect them and their rights,” according to Fared Omar, a refugee in the camp.
“They talk about weapons of Palestinian militias as if we are gangsters. We are a people with a cause, not mobsters,” he added.
For the first time in several years the Lebanese Army has stepped up its security measures at the four entrances to the Ain Al Hilweh Palestinian refugee camps, with all traffic subject to thorough inspections. The shift in the manner in which the army handles the camp has raised many questions, as army posts at the camps entrances have reinstated the long abandoned practice of recording the names of those entering and exiting the camp during the day in the event an incident occurs during the night.
Security sources attributed the beefed up army presence to information attained regarding a possible attempt by wanted persons coming from Iraq to enter the camp. Some men in the camp have been accused of secretly leaving for Iraq to fight against US forces.