Issue of Palestinian weapons in Lebanon creates new controversy

By Malek Mohammed Misbah in Beirut
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-01-19

[RAMZI HAIDAR/AFP/Getty Images] Armed Palestinian refugees in the Shatila camp on the outskirts of Beirut.

Four years after the unanimous agreement of Lebanese leaders at a meeting of the National Dialogue Table that Palestinian weapons outside refugee camps would be surrendered to Lebanese authorities, an announcement made Sunday (January 17th) by the general secretary of Fatah al-Intifada, Colonel Said Mussa (Abu Mussa), has resurrected the issue.

Abu Mussa, who was a leader in Yasser Arafat's Fatah, left Lebanon in 1982 with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. He later founded an organisation named Fatah al-Intifada based in Syria, but kept military bases in some areas of Lebanon. After 30 years, Abu Mussa has returned to Lebanon to visit various political leaders.

Abu Mussa, whose statement occupied the front pages of Lebanese newspapers on Monday, declared that his organisation rejects the attempt to move the weapons of Palestinian militants outside the refugee camps in Lebanon into the camps or to give up the weapons.

"I want to confront the Zionist enemy and the Palestinian weapons outside the camps are to fight the Zionists should they attack South Lebanon again," said Abu Mussa. He offered to negotiate with the Lebanese government regarding "moving the weapons from one area to another but not to disarm".

He said the issue of Palestinian weapons is an internal Palestinian matter not subject to any pressure.

"Even if Syria sends a signal to Prime Minister Saad Hariri—Although Syria remains our ally, we have our headquarters there and Syria offers us all the facilities in Damascus and we are grateful for that, but when it comes to the issue of the weapons inside or outside the camps, that is a Palestinian internal decision that has nothing to do with any other party."

The announcement was met with harsh criticism from Lebanese leaders, prompting Abu Mussa to blame the press, which he said, "unfortunately took part of the comments out of context."

"We are ready to discuss the issue and to find a middle ground between the Lebanese government and us on the matter of the weapons and their location," he said in an effort to downplay his earlier remarks.

But Abu Mussa's apparent retraction was not enough to calm the Lebanese reaction. The Kataeb party responded to Abu Mussa's comments describing them as "threats that make us concerned about the future. These comments disregarded the resolutions unanimously adopted by the Lebanese leaders at the meetings of the National Dialogue Table and on other occasions."

After the meeting of the politburo of the Kataeb party under leader Amin Gemayel, the party warned against "the dangers of this approach that ties all illegitimate weapons on the Lebanese soil to the crisis in the region… that could return the country to chaos. These comments contradict all the international resolutions that were issued during the wars that Lebanon went through and deny the right of the Lebanese people to setup a process to implement these resolutions."

Jamal al-Jarrah, a member of the Lebanon First movement (led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri) said that the decision concerning the Palestinian weapons outside the camps "is solely Lebanese".

"There is a Lebanese consensus on the matter and there is no other choice but to remove the weapons," he said." Abu Mussa must understand that the weapons outside of the camps are hurting the Palestinian cause."

Parliament member Issam Araji, another member of Lebanon First said, "The regulation of weapons inside and outside the Palestinian refugee camps is a matter that all Lebanese agree upon." Noting the importance of the "Syrian role and the help it's providing Lebanon in this matter."

Araji continued by criticizing Abu Mussa's comments, refusing to consider them as "a Syrian message to Lebanon."

But a professor in the Lebanese University speaking on condition of anonymity told Al-Shorfa that Abu Mussa's comments further demonstrate that Lebanese-Syrian relations have not yet progressed.

"Mussa's comments send a clear message that says we (the Syrians) are still here and we have many cards in our hand and we can control the situation in more than one way, one of which is the Palestinian weapons outside the camps."

MP Antoine Zahra of the Lebanese Forces said that Abu Mussa statement is "a Syrian message, no more no less", refusing to elaborate "so we will not embarrass the Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who discussed this issue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during his recent visit to Syria."

The head of Lebanese National Bloc Carlos Eddé said "that the disarmament of Palestinian militias is a national demand but will not be achieved and seriously address because the Syrian regime and Hizbullah oppose any solution to keep Lebanon weak and divided and to maintain the excuses that justify Hizbullah keeping its weapons."

Commenting on the same subject, Parliament member and director of An-Nahar newspaper, Nayla Tueini, demanded in an editorial on Monday to "see a reaction and a clarification from the opposition, especially those who are allied with the Palestinian factions, like Hizbullah, the Amal movement, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and lately, the Progressive Socialist Party… If they don't, and even if they stay silent, after what we heard from Mussa, this would mean that they are torpedoing the dialogue."

"The mere presence of weapons in the hands of armed groups that are not part of the military institution is already a matter that goes against the sovereignty of the state," Journalist Yara Abu Khaled told Al-Shorfa. "What would it be if the weapons are not even in the hands of Lebanese and are used for objectives that are not the objectives of the Lebanese state?"

"The Palestinian weapons were put to the test in the past, and its spread contributed to fuelling the Lebanese Civil War. The state should not allow for this to happen again and should work on taking these weapons from these organizations in preparation to confine weapons to the Lebanese Army."

Commenting on Abu Mussa's statement, she said, "I think that no leader of any organisation has the right to go against the decisions that were taken during the meetings of the National Dialogue Table with the consent of all the Lebanese and were adopted by the main Palestinian leaders and that were meant to strengthen Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and freedom."

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