Fight against militants agitates Lebanon's troubled camps
Poverty and hopelessness have helped foster the emergence of radical Islamist groups in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps.
from the May 23, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
During the 1960s and 1970s, the camps were the breeding ground for Palestinian militants in Lebanon and Jordan determined to win back their homes in Israel. The Palestinian factions grew increasingly powerful, and their cross-border attacks created problems for their host governments. In 1970, the Jordanian Army clashed with Palestinian militants and thousands were ejected from the country, joining their comrades in Lebanon.
The growing influence of the mainly Sunni Palestinian armed factions upset Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance and was a factor that led to the outbreak of civil war in 1975. Israel invaded Lebanon twice in the next seven years to drive the Palestinian militants out of Lebanon.
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Since the end of the civil war in 1990, the Palestinians have been confined to their 12 established refugee camps, which are ringed by Lebanese troops and whose entrances are tightly controlled.
The Lebanese state has no jurisdiction over the camps, a result of an agreement dating back to 1969 that Lebanon still honors. The Lebanese government refuses to accept the possibility of the refugees being permanently housed in Lebanon, fearing that it will aggravate sectarian sensitivities.
Palestinians are forbidden from all but the most menial labor, and the Lebanese state bans the refugees from expanding the area of the allotted camps. It even refuses to allow construction material inside.
Widespread poverty has helped foster the emergence of radical Islamist groups in some of the camps, particularly Ain al-Hilweh on the outskirts of the southern port city of Sidon where 50,000 people are packed into less than a square mile.
One of the older militant Islamist factions is Esbat al-Ansar, which emerged in the early 1990s and is based in Ain al-Hilweh. Listed by Washington as an international terrorist group, Esbat al-Ansar carried out a number of attacks and robberies around Sidon in the late 1990s, including the gunning down of four Lebanese judges in a courtroom in 1999.
Esbat al-Ansar and a splinter faction called Jund ash-Sham are thought to have organizational links with Fatah al-Islam and include fighters who have fought in Iraq.
A year ago, the Lebanese government began attempting to improve conditions in the camps, setting up a liaison channel with Palestinian representatives to install proper sewage systems, electricity, and water networks and to construct new homes.
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