Top Palestinian Officials Meet Mashnouq, Say Won't Allow 'Another Nahr al-Bared'
A senior Palestinian delegation held talks with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Monday and reassured that Palestinians in Lebanon will not allow jihadist groups to seize control of any Palestinian refugee camp in the country.
The delegation comprised Azzam al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah Movement's Central Committee who is in charge of the file of Lebanon's camps, Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, and Fathi Abu al-Ardat -- the Lebanon secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“The meeting was part of the joint coordination for assessing the problems that the Palestinian camps are facing from all aspects, especially security,” said al-Ahmed after the talks.
“We will coordinate joint efforts and steps in order to preserve stability and security in the camps,” the Palestinian official added.
“We stressed our solidarity with our Lebanese brothers and that we will maintain coordination to thwart any attempt to undermine civil peace in Lebanon,” al-Ahmed went on to say.
Asked about reports that the jihadist Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups are seeking to seize control of some Palestinian camps in Lebanon, especially Ain el-Hilweh, al-Ahmed said: “We are relieved despite these attempts and so far Lebanese-Palestinian coordination has succeeded in preventing these extremist forces from repeating the experience of the Nahr al-Bared camp.”
“Neither the PLO nor the Lebanese state will allow a repetition of what happened there,” the Palestinian official added, referring to the 2007 takeover of the Nahr al-Bared camp by the extremist Fatah al-Islam group, which sparked a deadly conflict with the Lebanese army and resulted in the total destruction of the camp.
“We do not believe everything that the media reports and I call on Lebanese media outlets to verify the information that they publish and not to be dragged into rumors or erroneous analyses,” al-Ahmed urged.
“All Lebanese institutions, including Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, are relieved but caution is needed and we remain vigilant regarding the security and stability of the camp,” the official added.
Al-Joumhouria newspaper had reported Thursday that Palestinian factions and the residents of Ain el-Hilweh have received warnings from Lebanese sides that some militants are seeking to enable jihadist groups to seize control of the camp, which is the largest in Lebanon.
“There are terrorist preparations to overrun some areas in the Ain el-Hilweh camp and the pro-Islamic State groups are being led by Imad Yassine while the pro-Nusra Front groups are being led by Haitham al-Shaabi,” the daily said.
“The factions and the residents must prevent these groups from achieving the objective of turning the camp into an emirate for them and a launchpad for creating conflict between the camp and its neighbors,” it quoted security sources as saying.
The sources, however, reassured that “the army is thoroughly monitoring what is happening in the Ain el-Hilweh camp.”
By long-standing convention, the army does not enter the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security.
That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives.
But the camp is also home to more than 54,000 registered Palestinian refugees who have been joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the fighting in Syria.
More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. Most live in squalid conditions in 12 official refugee camps and face a variety of legal restrictions, including on their employment.
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