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Palestinians demand Lebanon rights before disarming
One of the Palestinian groups which retains bases in Lebanon said Monday that it would only discuss laying down its weapons once the country's 380,000 Palestinian refugees have been accorded basic civic rights. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) a hardline pro-Syrian group demanded that a weeklong national dialogue conference under way in Beirut tackle the plight of the refugees and not simply the question of weapons. The Palestinian question in Lebanon should not be discussed exclusively from the security point of view. We're asking the dialogue conference... to decide on concrete steps as far as the humanitarian, civic and political rights of the Palestinians, PFLP-GC spokesman Anwar Rajab told reporters. If that's done, the weapons question will not be a problem. Resolution 1559, adopted by the UN Security Council in 2004, requires the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon, including the Shiite group Hizbollah as well as Palestinian groups. Implementation of the resolution is one of the key issues on the agenda of the national dialogue conference which opened Thursday. The PFLP-GC spokesman called for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to have the right to work and housing, including the right to own property, as well as the right to engage in political activities in defence of the Palestinian cause. We have to establish an atmosphere of confidence between Lebanese and Palestinians, he said, recalling that in 1982, after the withdrawal of Palestinians in the face of Israel's march on Beirut, hundreds of refugees had been killed in the Beirut camps of Sabra and Chatila. Rajab accused the Lebanese authorities of trying to get rid of the Palestinian community by stealth by denying them their residence rights. Any Palestinian refugee, even one recognised by the United Nations as resident in Lebanon, can only return home if he gets hold of a visa and they're virtually impossible to get hold of, the spokesman said. The result is that some 100,000 Palestinians registered in Lebanon are unable to return after leaving to work in the Gulf or elsewhere. Posted by: Fred 2006-03-07 |
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