BEIRUT, 28 May 2007 — Lebanon has given Palestinian factions until the middle of the week to negotiate a peaceful end to deadly fighting between the army and militants, a government source said yesterday.
“The authorities have given Palestinian organizations until the middle of the week” to try to negotiate a settlement to end the deadly showdown at a squalid Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the source said.
For a week, soldiers have been besieging the Nahr Al-Bared camp where entrenched militants from the Fatah Al-Islam militia have been fighting the army in the deadliest internal feuding since the civil war.
A total of 78 people have been killed in the fighting, which has also forced thousands to flee and trapped thousands more in deteriorating conditions in the camp, where residents are suffering a lack of water and electricity.
The negotiations involve handing over wanted fighters from the Fatah Al-Islam extremist group for trial over attacks against the Lebanese armed forces since last Sunday, the source said.
Only foreign militants not wanted by the Lebanese authorities could be repatriated to their home countries, the source added.
Led by a Palestinian, Fatah Al-Islam is made up of a few hundred extremists of various Arab nationalities and is said to be inspired by the Al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden.
Four Saudi members of Fatah Al-Islam are among those killed in the clashes, an Arabic newspaper reported yesterday.
“Up to now four Saudis have been killed in the ongoing clashes between the Lebanese Army and the Fatah Al-Islam group, but they have yet to be identified,” Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul Aziz Khoja told Al-Hayat.
