Army Discovers Tunnel under Palestinian Refugee Camp

The Army uncovered a tunnel in one of the Palestinian refugee camps reaching out of it, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, an army unit raided on Sunday the tunnel and placed it under strict surveillance.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq expressed fear in comments published in As Safir over the “worrying conditions in some Palestinian camps.”

“Frankly, I am not at ease,” the minister said.

He stressed that “tampering with security is prohibited and we will deal firmly with any offenders.”

The minister called on Prime Minister Tammam Salam to call for a session for the Higher Defense Council “away from any political disputes over the presidential vacuum.”

“We should take precautionary measures that suit the looming dangers” in the region.

Mashnouq considered that if the Higher Defense Council can not meet, then an “emergency cell should be formed” to maintain stability in Lebanon.

“This is more important than any debate over power-sharing,” he concluded.

Palestinians living in Arab countries — including the 450,000 in Lebanon — are descendants of the hundreds of thousands who fled or were driven from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948.

They remain in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps because Israel and the Palestinians have never reached a deal that would enable them to return to their homes that are now in Israel.

H.K.

G.K.