Lebanon: Palestinian refugees caught in the cross-fire

In an attempt to flush out the fundamentalist group Fatah al-Islam, the Lebanese army has laid siege to the Nahar al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp for two weeks as of May 28, indiscriminately pounding it with artillery, depriving the population of food and water, and forcing most of the camp’s 31,000 impoverished residents to flee in any way they can.

By directing its guns against Palestinian civilians, the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has leaned further toward the U.S., further polarizing an already tense Lebanon, and unleashing a wave of racism against Palestinians refugees, the most impoverished and vulnerable sector in Lebanon.

As of this writing on May 29, a shaky truce has permitted Palestinian groups to enter the camp and attempt to negotiate a solution. Under a 1969 Arab-wide agreement, the Lebanese Army may not enter the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, which are administered by Palestinians. Meanwhile, the army is using the truce time to fortify its positions around the camp.

Siniora’s onslaught against Palestinian families has Washington’s full support. Claiming the Lebanese Army has acted in a “legitimate manner” (electronicintifada.net, May 27), the Bush administration is now airlifting weapons to the Lebanese regime. To date, eight military transport planes carrying arms have landed in Beirut since May 24, four from the U.S., two from the United Arab Emirates and two from Jordan—both close U.S. allies.

While the Pentagon says these weapons are for use against Fatah al-Islam, which it brands as “terrorist,” this is just a pretext for the arms airlift. Just a week before the weapons airlift, U.S. Undersecretary of State for the Near East David Welch visited Lebanon and met for the first time with the commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army.

Massive weaponry is not needed for the army to fight Fatah al-Islam, a group whose numbers BBC puts at 150-200. U.S. weapons are more likely meant to be used against Hezbollah, or the Palestinians and other progressive forces in Lebanon, which Washington opposes and would like to destroy.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, has condemned Beirut for accepting U.S. military aid. Nasrallah argued that a U.S.-identified government in Lebanon could draw al-Qaeda fighters into Lebanon, as they have been drawn into Iraq. He warned against “transforming Lebanon into a battleground in which we fight al-Qaeda on behalf of the Americans.” (Englishaljazeera.net, May 27)

It should be noted that when Israel attacked Lebanon last summer, it was Hezbollah and other people’s militias which defended Lebanon’s territorial integrity, not the Lebanese Army.

The group Fatah al-Islam, which has fighters in the Nahr al-Bared camp, was formed about six months ago, and is alleged to have a philosophy similar to al-Qaeda. Its leader, Shakir al-Abssi, has been connected in the Western press with the 2002 killing of Laurence Foley, a U.S. AID official in Jordan.

The fighting in Lebanon began on May 20 when Lebanese forces pursued Fatah al-Islam members, claiming they were involved in bank robbery. The group responded by attacking Lebanese army positions near the Nahr al-Bared camp.

While Fatah al-Islam is headed by a Palestinian, it is not seen by the Palestinians as a group arising from their community, or even a group which gives support to the Palestinian cause, but merely as a group which has situated itself in a Palestinian camp. In a May 23 interview on Al-Arabiya TV, Lebanese Defense Minister Ilyas Murr stated that of the several dozen fighters killed, he said that they are mostly Lebanese, Saudi, Yemeni, Algerian, Tunisian and Moroccan. Not one is identified as Palestinian.

According to BBC and electronicintifada. net (May 27), Palestinian groups have distanced themselves from this group, and Palestinian and Hezbollah leaders have not supported its attack on the Lebanese Army.

In fact, many progressives in Lebanon wonder out loud how Fatah al-Islam could become situated in the camp without the knowledge and possible complicity of the Lebanese army, which surrounds the camp on all sides.

The Palestinian community in Lebanon feels that they are paying a price for a fight that has nothing to do with them.

The army assault on the Nahr al-Bared camp has unleashed a wave of racism against the Palestinian people, with some rightwing elements openly calling for wiping out the camp. Rightwing militias, some armed with M-16s, came to the camp and tried to enter it. Palestinian civilians reported being fired on by these militias. (electronicintifada.net, May 27)

Nahr al-Bared, housing 31,000 Palestinians packed into one square kilometer, was relentlessly pounded for three days with army artillery rounds and tank fire.

“It was worse than hell,” said Yasmin Abdel Ai. “The army and Fatah al Islam would fire on each other, but the bombs and bullets landed on us. We were waiting for death.” (New York Times, May 23)

Ashraf Abu Khorj, a youth organizer, said on May 21, at the height of the bombing: “The situation is very bad. No electricity for the past two days. There is no water. There is nothing. ... The people that were killed yesterday, there is no hospital in the camp, no place to put the dead. This morning, our neighbor was killed—at 6:30 a.m.—and he is still in the room, and his body is starting to smell within the house. The injured—the same situation.” (“Live from Lebanon,” May 23, electronicintifada.net)

Sultan Abul Ainain, head of Fatah in Lebanon, said, “No Palestinian or Palestinian faction in Lebanon will accept seeing the Palestinian people slaughtered in a collective punishment as is happening in Nahr al-Bared.”(electronicintifada.net, May 27)

“We will not let our Palestinian brothers and sisters be slaughtered,” chanted Palestinians in demonstrations held in camps throughout Lebanon. (AP May 22)

According to the U.N., 25,000 of the camp’s 31,000 residents have left. At least 10,000 are being put up in schools or are staying with families in the nearby Beddawi camp “sometimes 40 people to a room.” (electronicintifata.net May 27)

“Beddawi is miserable; people are sleeping all together on the floors in the dust,” said Dr. Ayed Abou Hussein, a resident of Nahr al-Bared who arrived in Beddawi on Wednesday. (Beirut Daily Star, May 25)

“There are many people who left their houses without being able to take their money with them. They are completely reliant on others,” he continued.

The Safad Hospital in Beddawi is operating on a double shift to accommodate the wounded and those suffering from shock, dehydration, low blood sugar and hunger, according to hospital director Ahmed al-Hajj. “Although the International Red Cross, the Lebanese Red Cross and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society have provided many things it is not enough to meet the needs of such a war,” said Hajj

Sitting in one of the hospital’s many full rooms, Rehan Khoadr, 20, was recovering from shrapnel wounds to her abdomen, chest and legs. “When the war started we became scared and tried to flee the camps,” she said. “As we were getting ready to leave, a bomb fell on our house. That is all I remember. Now I know my father is dead and my mother is in a coma.”

Hajj added, “We are not responsible for this conflict and why should the Palestinians pay for it?”