BEIRUT, 9 October 2005 — Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora held separate talks with Palestinian militant groups yesterday in a bid to end their armed presence outside refugee camps in the country. The meetings came a day after the army tightened security around bases maintained by pro-Syrian Palestinian groups no longer protected by the Syrian military after its departure from Lebanon in April.
Siniora met with Palestine Liberation Organization officials and pro-Syrian Palestinians, including representatives from the radical groups Islamic Jihad and Hamas, in the hope of resolving a burgeoning dispute over weapons-carrying.
The PLO spokesman in Lebanon, Marwan Abdelaal, told reporters his meeting with Siniora had been positive and that they decided to “regulate armament inside refugee camps so they do not become security islands.” Islamic Jihad representative Abu Imad Rifai said that his “very positive” meeting had centered on “refugees’ social and humanitarian rights, political rights and finally the security question.”
Siniora said Friday that the presence of militia bases outside the camps would no longer be tolerated. “There is no reason for Palestinian weapons outside of camps. This must be clear,” he said. Siniora added that the government was not seeking a “confrontation with the Palestinians” and that he wanted to solve the problem through dialogue.
A Siniora aide who requested anonymity went further, saying it was “inadmissible that armed Palestinians deployed in the middle of built-up Lebanese areas put the lives of Lebanese civilians in danger. Resistance to Israel isn’t conducted from Lebanese villages.” The meetings came days after a radical Palestinian group rejected a UN demand to disarm and accused Siniora of exerting pressure for such a move.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), led by Ahmad Jibril, complained Tuesday that the Lebanese Army was imposing a blockade on its bases close to the Syrian border. “The attempt to sacrifice the weapons of the Palestinians of Lebanon in line with (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559 will not be greeted by silence or compromise,” it warned.
The PFLP-GC has maintained the bases in Lebanon for 30 years, and its stockpiles of arms were reinforced during and after the April withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. UN Resolution 1559, passed in September 2004, demands the disarmament of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as well as the 12 Palestinian groups present within both refugee camps and, as in the case of the PFLP-GC, outside.
According to a tacit agreement after the collapse in 1987 of the Cairo accords that regulated Palestinian armed presence, the Lebanese army refrains from entering the refugee camps, in which carrying light weapons is permitted. However, the Lebanese army maintains checkpoints at camp entries and around the perimeters.
Siniora said he has the support of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who assured him that the PLO “is against the presence of arms outside the camps.” Abbas adviser Samih Abdel Fattah was quoted in the Lebanese press yesterday as saying that “Lebanese laws must apply to Palestinians who are guests in Lebanon.” He said a Palestinian delegation would soon travel to Lebanon to discuss in particular the humanitarian situation in the country’s 12 camps, home to half the 380,000 Palestinians registered in Lebanon.
The question of Palestinian arms has been high on the agenda since Syrian troops left Lebanon in April after 29 years. The UN Security Council resolution that demanded Syria end its domination of Lebanon also calls for the disarming of all militias there, a reference to Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Palestinian factions, most of which are backed by Syria.
Tensions shot up last week when the government ordered the army to step up patrols along the Syrian border following reports that Syrian-backed Palestinian factions were smuggling weapons into the country through remote military outposts.
