Lebanon Fatah Officer Killed in Lebanon Refugee Camp
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April 24, 2016 9 News & Analysis Lebanon Fatah officer killed in Lebanon refugee camp Mohamed Kawas least for his failure to take the nec- lead to greater chaos and violence. essary measures to heal the rifts In addition to the presence of inside the camp. supporters of ISIS and al-Qaeda- Beirut Fatah is divided between those affiliate al-Nusra Front, Fatah al- who are loyal to Ramallah under Islam is also present in the camp. he assassination of sen- Abbas and those who have pledged The radical Islamist group is best ior Fatah military official allegiance to General Mahmoud al- known for its role in the 2007 con- General Fathi Zaidan in Issa, who goes by the nom de guerre flict in the Nahr Al-Bared refugee a car bombing has raised al-Lino and who is close to Fatah camp. It is also believed to have concerns regarding what strongman Mahmoud Dahlan. ties to the Assad regime in Damas- Tis going on inside Lebanon’s Pales- Despite the divisions and disrup- cus. tinian refugee camps. tion of efforts to heal the rift be- Following the bombing at the tween Abbas and Dahlan, the disa- Armed clashes Mieh Mieh refugee camp, tensions greement between the two camps have flared rose at nearby Ain Al-Helwah, the has not reached the point of open between Fatah largest Palestinian refugee camp in conflict. and the rival the country. Ain Al-Helwah is con- Ain Al-Helwah features a com- Islamist Jund sidered one of the most violent of plex mosaic of factions and groups. the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in In addition to Palestinian groups al-Sham group Lebanon. Conditions at the over- Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and at Ain Al-Helwa. crowded camp have deteriorated other factions affiliated with the as Lebanon struggles to deal with Palestinian Liberation Organisa- Ain Al-Helwa, an island of Sunni the influx of refugees from Syria. tion (PLO), new Islamist groups, Muslims in a Shia-dominated area, Armed clashes have flared be- including al-Qaeda and the Islamic is viewed by some as a threat to tween Fatah and the rival Islamist State (ISIS), have emerged. Hezbollah’s dominance of south- Jund al-Sham group at Ain Al-Hel- Fatah generally enjoyed good ern Lebanon. This threat is com- wah. Jund al-Sham was believed relations with Lebanon’s political pounded by Islamist groups Hez- to have been behind the June 2015 and security forces. Abbas chose bollah is fighting in neighbouring assassination of Fatah General Ta- security coordination with Leba- Syria and the threat of the Syrian lal Balawna, sparking a series of re- non’s security apparatus over other conflict spilling over into Lebanon. taliatory attacks that many feared options, albeit without direct Leb- What is certain is that over the would erupt into open warfare. anese oversight of the camp. past few months the Lebanese Similar fears are being expressed This led to Palestinian factions Army has fortified its position now. in the camp competing with each around the camp, securing the en- other to secure some form of rela- trances and exits to Ain Al-Helwa. Ain Al-Helwa, tionship with Lebanon’s multiplic- As for whether the coming weeks a Sunni camp, is ity of security agencies. Ultimately, and months will see a full-scale viewed by some this sowed seeds of even more cha- conflagration in Ain Al-Helwa, the as a threat to os and distrust among Palestinian jury is out. Observers say that this Hezbollah’s factions in Ain Al-Helwah. would only take place following Islamist forces are coordinating major regional or international rea- dominance of with Lebanon’s security apparatus, lignment, such as the abolition of southern Lebanon. albeit through the official Palestin- the right to return. ian leadership and the camp’s Joint Ain Al-Helwa is the most popu- Despite this, Fatah, which is the Security Committee — the self- lous Palestinian refugee camp in main power in Ain Al-Helwa and styled police and security appara- Lebanon. Its fate will reveal much many other Palestinian refugee tus dominated by Fatah. about those of all Palestinian refu- camps, is internally divided. Many Observers warn that the Islamist gees in Lebanon. Members of the Palestinian Fatah movement carry the coffin of in the camp say Fatah leader Pales- groups are seeking greater unifica- Fathi Zaidan, Fatah’s security chief, who was assassinated in a tinian President Mahmoud Abbas tion and coordination to weaken Mohamed Kawas is a Lebanese blast in Mieh Mieh refugee camp near the southern port city of is responsible for the situation, not Fatah’s dominance, which could writer. Sidon, Lebanon. The bitter peace of Lebanon Viewpoint orty-one years have massacres while the Israeli threat elapsed since the is always present. ill-fated incident of War in Lebanon is a deferred the Ain el-Remmaneh project. In the meantime, there bus ignited the is no harm in having municipal 15-year Lebanese civil elections to give an impression of Fwar. But war drums are still stability, while the government beating even after the Taif is dysfunctional and parliament Agreement in 1990 silenced the paralysed and a presidential guns on various fronts without vacuum persisting. In parallel, Amine resolving the inner causes of the the economy is in its worst state Kammourieh conflict, which still smoulder and economic hardships tight- under the ashes. ening the noose on the people, Dissent and clashes are still further fuelling tensions. present, ready to explode. Instead The situation is aggravated of these divisive factors being by the Arabs preoccupied by defused and dealt with directly their own calamities amid deep to rebuild the future of Lebanon, vertical divisions threatening the they were simply frozen until existence of countries from Iraq further notice. to Syria, Yemen and Libya. Civil strife is not a phenomenon The Lebanese hope the sparks characteristic to Lebanon only. of regional and Arab wars will not Many countries have internal reach them. These conflicts are conflicts. However, rather than increasingly taking a sectarian as- suffer the fate of Lebanon, other pect, notably between the Sunnis states came out stronger and and the Shias, which would in- more attached to their unity. evitably destabilise Lebanon and Civil war in Switzerland tran- deepen its own sectarian rifts. scended the country from being In short, Lebanon is living in partitioned along ethnic and danger, decades after the end linguistic lines into a neutral and of its civil war, because the so- peaceful state. In Spain, the war called peace proved to be more that ended with the historic rec- bitter than war itself. onciliation between royalists and It is high time to build a civil, republicans restored the country democratic, just and capable as a powerful player in Europe. state in the country once branded The war that reunited its south A picture of a building in Beirut that is still riddled with bullets and shells 41 years the Switzerland of the Orient; a and the north led to the United after the start of the Lebanese civil war. country where citizens would be States to eventually becoming a treated fairly and equally without world superpower. reference to their sect. So what is the problem with people who take no lessons? Is the state’s immunity at its lowest. Sectarianism should not be Lebanon? Are the Lebanese a problem in the sectarian political Sectarian struggle is at its highest regarded as Lebanon’s inevitable system that makes citizens vas- and harshest, compared to the Lebanon fate. It is a result of the popula- sals of sects, instead of citizens of scale of dissent that existed in the is living tion composition. It is a social a country? Or is the problem with 1970s. in danger feature that could be strength- the entourage who let the country Lebanon’s precarious stability because the ened or weakened, depending on The signs of dissent slip into multiple wars before could collapse at the first security circumstances and choices. and dislocation today the villain virus of dissent and incident in case an international so-called violence hit them? or regional power allows such a peace proved Amine Kammourieh is a in Lebanon are even On the 41st anniversary of flare-up, for the local terrain is to be more Lebanese journalist who has Lebanon’s civil war, the signs of fully ready. Instead of one Ain been reporting on Lebanon and stronger than in 1975. dissent and dislocation are even el-Remmaneh bus, prevailing ten- bitter than the Middle East for 30 years. He stronger than in 1975 and the sions could lead to tens of such war itself. is based in Beirut..