Residents of the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp have tentatively returned to their homes Tuesday to inspect the damage caused by the violent battle between various factions in the camp, while armed men remained on alert behind sand barricades as a shaky cease-fire seemed to hold.
| Daily Star has a two column presentation. The companion article to this is titled — so help me, God — "Lahoud: Israel not interested in peace"... |
A number of people who had fled the camp seeking safety were devastated to find many of their homes and neighborhoods in ruins. Electricity wires could be seen dangling on the ground and broken glass littered the campâs main road.
| Not an Israeli was in sight... |
Resident Umm Qassem started screaming as she wandered among the rubble that was her home, trying to avoid water spilling from shattered pipes. âThey destroyed my home, my furniture,â she cried. âIt was terrible, we could hear the gunmen shouting whenever one of them was wounded.â
Another resident in the camp, Abu Amer, who was busy repairing a water pipe, said his family had taken refuge in the bathroom during the fighting. Walid Hajjaj, whose home was hit by a shell, added sadly that âarmed men broke into homes and were hurling hand grenades at one another. It is regrettable that in Palestine they are fighting the Jews, while here we are fighting each other.â
| Oh. It wasn't the Jews. Does that matter? |
Rival groups in the embattled camp agreed Tuesday to discuss controversial issues, in particular the withdrawal of armed men and the burial of those killed in the fighting. As a dubious calm descended on the camp following Mondayâs fierce fighting, which left seven people dead and more than 50 wounded, peacemakers shuttled between the antagonists in an attempt to establish order and restore normal life.
| Wonder if they imported them from Oslo or Brussels or someplace? |
The Daily Star learned that an accord to bury on Wednesday those who had been killed had been reached. One of Mondayâs victims was Yehia Shreidi, the uncle of the leader of Usbat al-Nur, Abdullah Shreidi, who was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt during the weekend.
| Sepsis set in yet? How about some gangrene? Indigestion, at least? |
Differences over the venue for burying Yehia Shreidi was the reason behind the most recent spate of fighting. Latest reports said it was agreed to bury Yehia in a graveyard other than the one his relatives had chosen and insisted on.
| Well, of course. It's normal for people to have gun battles over where Uncle Whatsisname gets buried... Why, when my Uncle Vernon kicked it — uhhh... You don't want to know about that one. |
Friction between Islamists and mainstream Palestinian factions had been mounting for weeks in the Sidon-based camp and many fear the cease-fire will be a temporary one.
"Yar! We be Islamists!"
"Yar! We be Paleostinians!"
"Yar! Yer ugly!"
"Yar! Yer mudder wears combat boots!" |
âWe are maintaining a cease-fire based on a decision by Islamic groups in the camp,â said one Usbat al-Ansar official, who goes by the name Abu Obeida. âWe have taught them an important lesson and are ready to defend Islam if the infidels renew their assault on us,â he added.
| Islamists are very big on education. They're always teaching somebody or other a lesson... |
For his part, a Fatah official said the group agreed to the cease-fire for the sake of civilians, accusing the Islamists of being heedless in that respect. âThey put their whole force into the battle,â he said, adding they had benefitted from financial, material and operational help from Islamic Jihad, another fundamentalist group.
"Yar! We be..."
"Oh, shuddup!" |
Information Minister Joseph Samaha said: âTerrorist groups that have taken over refuge in the camp threaten to become a factor of destabilization.â The government, he told reporters at his office, âis working on anticipating the spread of their threat outside the camp or their causing of negative repercussions on the countryâs security.â
| Doesn't seem like the place was too stable before they showed up. I'll admit, though, that the corpse count's gone up since they got there... |
A military expert was quoted as saying the fundamentalists had fought tenaciously, demonstrating their determination for victory.
| "Yeah. You don't even wanna mess wit' dem boyz. They're crazy!" |
The Imam of Al-Quds Mosque in Sidon, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, held a press conference in his office Tuesday, reaffirming that the cease-fire agreed upon was in force. He said the various Palestinian factions, the peopleâs committees and influential figures had shown keenness to establish security at the camp and resolve the crisis through dialogue.
| "Resolve the crisis through dialogue"? With seven dead, fifty wounded, and all the common folk chased out? |
âWhat has occurred in the camp and the resort to arms over trifling matters calls for pity, as it has tarnished the image of Palestinians and Lebanese-Palestinian relations everywhere, at a time when âheroic operationsâ are being carried out in Israeli-occupied territories,â he said.
| It's similar orifices who're doing the same sort of things in Paleostine. Why should we think they're remotely different?... Oh, yeah. I forgot. They've got a President-for-Life... |
He appealed to âall forcesâ to display responsibility and forget the past, indicating that a meeting had been held with the regionâs Lebanese Army command. He also paid tribute to the armyâs role in helping stop the discord, facilitating the entry of ambulances at the campâs checkpoints and preventing civilians from entering dangerous areas.
| But being afraid to actually go into the camp and shoot all the Bad Guys they saw... |
He then went to the camp where he met the chief Fatah official, Khaled Aref, as Jamaa Islamiya deputy secretary-general Ali Sheikh Ammar, was also meeting with representatives of Usbat al-Ansar. Â |