People walk past a Lebanese army checkpoint at the entrance to Ain al-Hilweh

Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, South Lebanon, Sept. 22, 2016. (photo
by REUTERS/Ali Hashisho)
Lebanon halts work as Palestinians reject wall around refugee camp
US President-elect Donald Trump's plan for a wall along the US-Mexico border
isn't the only one raising controversy these days.
Summary Print The Lebanese governments decision to build a wall at the
southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh sparks angry reactions from
Palestinian factions.
Author Haytham MouzahemPosted December 1, 2016
TranslatorSahar Ghoussoub
Construction began and halted last month on a wall at Ain alHilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army said
the 6-foot-tall cement wall, which is intended to help keep terrorists and
criminals from passing into and out of the camp, supposedly had the approval
of senior Palestinian faction officials. But construction stopped
when condemnation arose from numerous quarters.
Residents of the camp and some Palestinian factions staged a demonstration last
week, rejecting the idea of encircling and isolating the camp from its
surroundings, turning it into one big prison. They also deny
longstanding claims that the camp threatens Lebanons security, and allegations
that about 200 extremists from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and the Islamic State
(IS) reside inside the camps neighborhoods. But the camp has a history of
widespread, deadly infighting among various factions.
Informed security sources told Al-Monitor that the security situation has been
deteriorating in the camp since 2013. There have been dozens of clashes
between some radical groups and Palestinian factions, and dozens of killings. In
2014, Minister of Interior and Municipalities Nouhad al-Machnouk said, It is no
longer acceptable that the camp remains a hotbed where fugitives flee from
justice.
Maj. Gen. Munir al-Maqdah, commander of the joint Palestinian security force in
the camp, told Al-Monitor by phone that a meeting was held Nov. 24 between
delegates of the camp's Palestinian security committee and Brig. Gen. Khoder
Hammoud, head of the Lebanese army intelligence branch in the south. The
parties agreed to halt work on the wall until the concerned factions come up
with an alternative within two weeks.

Maqdah added that the Palestinian factions had held another meeting and issued
a statement squarely rejecting said wall, which would harm historical relations
and the common struggle of the brotherly peoples of Lebanon and Palestine.
Raafat Morra, a Hamas media officer in Lebanon, told Al-Monitor the Hamas
movement is against any action aimed at isolating the Palestinian presence in
Lebanon or viewing them as a security threat. He said the various factions have
made concerted efforts for five years to minimize conflicts in the camps. We
managed to pull this off, as camps have seen relative calm and have cooperated
with the Lebanese authorities to maintain security, he said.
The Lebanese army issued a statement Nov. 25 saying that the security wall is
merely a protective fence in some sectors that doesn't overlook residential
areas of the camp and that aims to prevent the infiltration of terrorists from
and into it. The statement added that the wall will help close off tunnels that
fugitives in the camp use to access nearby agricultural fields.
The Lebanese army was surprised by Palestinian objections to the wall,
since intelligence officials and senior Palestinian faction officials said they had
"previously agreed on the matter," according to the army statement.
Critics of the wall say that rather than providing security, the barrier would
promote division and provoke refugees, while harming them psychologically.
Marwan Abdul Al, an official in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) in Lebanon, told Al-Monitor, The [proposed] wall will not serve its goal of
maintaining security. We fear that it would harm the image of the camp and turn
into a metal scarecrow in the mind of the public, promoting the culture of
estrangement and hatred instead of communication and dialogue.
He also said comprehensive security can be achieved by promoting the
sovereignty of the Lebanese state and justice for Palestinians, according to the
equation of rights and duties.
A Palestinian journalist residing in the camp, who asked not to be named, told AlMonitor, The wall would turn the camp into a cage, and people inside would be
like animals in a zoo.
Hassan Hoballah, who handles Palestinian issues for Hezbollah, told Al-Monitor
the party "rejects any act involving injustice or persecution, or a racist act
against the Palestinian people in Lebanon, as they are our brothers and our
guests.
Hoballah called for finding security alternatives to the wall based on
cooperation between the Lebanese army and the Palestinian factions to prevent
the infiltration of terrorist groups.

Other Lebanese officials, political parties and groups also issued statements
condemning the wall.
Islamic legal scholar Sheikh Selim Sussan, the mufti of Sidon and its districts,
on Nov. 24 bluntly rejected the wall, which he said would "turn the camp into one
big prison for our Palestinian brothers and further stir feelings of hatred and
discrimination against them.
He added, I do not know who was behind the idea of building this wall that
separates the people of Sidon and Palestinians who share several bonds
together at the national, religious and family levels.
There's no doubt a new approach is needed to address Lebanese-Palestinian
relations, an approach that would lead to more social and economic rights for
Palestinian refugees in terms of work and residence, as well as better living
conditions in the camps scattered in most of the Lebanese provinces. This new
approach could also take into account Lebanese concerns of the resettlement of
Palestinian refugees on one hand, and the perils of any infiltration by terrorist
organizations inside camps and the resulting security threat on the other.
Ain al-Hilweh camp is the largest camp for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in
terms of both population and area. Estimates of its area range from only about 1
square kilometer (0.4 square mile) to 2 square kilometers. Population estimates
range from 60,000 to 80,000.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/11/lebanon-ain-alhilweh-palestinian-camp-security-wall.html#ixzz4RiVsrrTL