LEBANON: PALESTINIANS IN REFUGEE CAMPS MOURN YASSER ARAFAT

Record ID: 275171

  • Title: LEBANON: PALESTINIANS IN REFUGEE CAMPS MOURN YASSER ARAFAT
  • Date: 11th November 2004
  • Summary: (W3) AIN AL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP, SOUTH LEBANON (NOVEMBER 11, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF CAR WITH LOUDSPEAKERS BROADCASTING KORANIC VERSES (FROM ISLAMIC HOLY BOOK), SMOKE CAUSED BY ROCKETS FIRED IN THE AIR IN THE BACKGROUND 0.04 2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PUTTING PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT POSTERS ON CAR 0.20 3. SLV WEEPING WOMAN, HOLDIN
  • Embargoed: 26th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AIN AL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP, SOUTH LEBANON AND BURJ AL BARAJNEH CAMP, BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA9UK3HI077X3Z8IUP346N7UU4S
  • Story Text: Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps mourn the
    death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.



    Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps mourned the
    death of Palestinian President Arafat with volleys of
    gunfire and wails of grief on Thursday (November 11).

    As word of Arafat's death spread, thousands of
    Palestinians rushed into the narrow streets of the Ain
    el-Hilweh camp in south Lebanon, while gunmen loyal to his
    Fatah faction fired their rifles and rocket-propelled
    grenades in the air.

    The Koran blared from loudspeakers across the camp and
    plumes of black smoke rose from heaps of tyres set on fire
    in the streets and mourners marching through the camp
    chanted: "Abu Ammar (Arafat), where are you?"
    Ain el-Hilweh is one of a dozen camps in which 350,000
    Palestinians are registered as refugees in Lebanon and
    where Arafat's fighters were a main faction in the civil
    war that
    erupted in 1975.

    In the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut, mourners took
    to the streets while others blocked the camp's main road
    with burning tyres.

    Arafat and many of his men went into exile in Tunisia
    and other Arab countries through a deal brokered after the
    1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, with many leaving
    families in the camps across Lebanon.

    Lebanon has always feared that mainly Muslim Palestinian
    refugees could threaten the delicate sectarian balance of
    power in the country, where the refugees face legal
    barriers to attending school, working and owning property.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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