Lebanon launches process of dismantling Palestinian factions in refugee camps
Lebanon-Joint Palestine Commission is tasked with evacuating weapons from various Palestinian factions in Lebanon refugee camps, opening a timetable for disorganization for the first time.
Lebanon- The Palestine Dialogue Commission is a government agency that is an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials and met with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Friday.
The group said: “Participants agreed to initiate a procedure for weapons disarming based on a specific schedule.”
It added that it also aims to take steps to “enhance the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees”.
A Lebanese government source told the news agency that the country disarmed 12 official camps of Palestinian refugees who hosted multiple Palestinian factions, including Fatahits competitors Hamas The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as many other groups, may begin in mid-June.
Under decades of agreements, Lebanese authorities do not control security camps managed by Palestinian factions.
The meeting is as Lebanese government faces increasing international pressure to remove weapons from Iran-aligned armed groups HezbollahWar with Israel last year.
“The message is clear. There is a new era in Lebanon, a new balance of power and a new leadership that monopolizes weapons in the hands of the state, which is the advancement in Lebanon,” said Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr.
“In southern Lebanon, it has begun to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure, and the next phase appears to be disarmament of the Palestinian groups in the camp, and then it addresses Hezbollah’s weapons issues in other parts of the country,” she said.
Earlier this week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Group, visited Lebanon by his Fatah party and said in his speech that weapons in the camps “harm Lebanon and the Palestinian cause.”
During Abbas' visit, he and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced a deal that the Palestinian factions would not use Lebanon as a launch pad for any attacks on Israel and would merge weapons under the authorization of the Lebanese government.
Al Jazeera's Khodr said several factions seem to oppose disarming.
“Although the Palestinian authority of Abbas may be considered internationally as a representative body of the Palestinian people, there are many armed groups, including Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic jihad, who… believes in the armed struggle with Israel. ” she said.
“In the absence of consensus among factions, stability may remain elusive.”
