Beirut (AP) – The Lebanese and Palestinian presidents agreed Wednesday that the Palestinian factions will not use Lebanon as a launch for any attack on Israel and to suppress weapons that are not under the authority of the Lebanese state.
The announcement was made at a meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived earlier in the day starting a three -day visit to Lebanon, his first in seven years.
The Government of Lebanon seeks to establish an authority throughout the country, mainly in the south near the border with Israel after the War of Israel-Hezbollah of 14 months which ended in late November with a Ceasefire in the United States.
The 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are not under the control of the Lebanese state, and the Palestinian factions in the camps have different types of weapons. Rival groups have faced each other in recent years, inflicting victims and affecting neighboring areas.
It was not immediately clear how weapons would be withdrawn from the camps, which house tens of thousands of Palestinians, many of whom were descendants of families who fled in Lebanon after the creation of Israel in 1948.
The Abbas Fatah movement and the Hamas militant group are the main factions of the camps. Small groups, including certain jihadist factions, also have a presence in the camps – mainly in Ein El -Hilweh, which is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon and located near the southern port city of Sidon.
A joint statement read by spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency, Najat Sharafeddine, said that the two parties have agreed that weapons should not be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of “weapons beyond the control of the Lebanese state have ended”.
The press release indicates that the two parties agreed that the Palestinian camps in Lebanon are not “shelters for extremist groups”. He added that “the Palestinian party confirms its commitment not to use Lebanese territories to launch military operations”.
At the end of March, Israel has intensified its air strikes In Lebanon in response to the dismissal of Hamas north of Israel in southern Lebanon.
Shortly after the air strike wave, the Lebanese government first called Palestinian group and arrested nearly 10 suspects involved in the operation. Hamas was forced by the military to hand over three of their activists from different refugee camps.
There are nearly 500,000 Palestinians registered with UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. However, the actual number of the country would be around 200,000, because many have emigrated but remain on the UNRWA list. It is forbidden to work in many professions, has few legal protections and cannot have goods.
