LEBANON: EIN EL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP CELEBRATES THE 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF PALESTINIAN INDEPENDENCE IN THE CITY OF SIDON.

Record ID: 275223

  • Title: LEBANON: EIN EL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP CELEBRATES THE 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DECLARATION OF PALESTINIAN INDEPENDENCE IN THE CITY OF SIDON.
  • Date: 15th November 2002
  • Summary: (W5) AIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, LEBANON (NOVEMBER 15, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: ARMED PALESTINIAN GUNMEN MARCHING AHEAD OF CROWD OF DEMONSTRATORS. (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. GV: CHILD CARRYING POSTER WITH A PICTURE OF YASSER ARAFAT 0.18 3. DEMONSTRATORS CARRYING A LARGE PALESTINIAN FLAG 0.24 4. SV: ARMED GUNMEN IN PARADE. 0.33
  • Embargoed: 30th November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AIN EL-HILWEH, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA9NH5NLJXZPPRL0UAN61Y1MSBN
  • Story Text: Up to 2,000 people in Lebanon's largest refugee camp
    have taken part in a rally marking the 14th anniversary of the
    symbolic declaration of Palestinian independence.



    The crowd of demonstrators headed by ranks of gunmen
    brandishing their weapons filled the streets of Ein El-Hilweh
    camp in the suburb of the port city of Sidon, 40 km south of
    Beirut.

    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat symbolically declared
    an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its
    capital on November 15, 1988.

    The demonstrators waving Palestinian flags and pictures of
    President Arafat, shouted pro-independence slogans voicing
    support for their brethren in the West Bank and the Gaza
    Strip.

    The Ein El-Hilweh camp, one of several refugee camps
    scattered around Lebanon, is home to almost 75,000 Palestinian
    refugees.

    President Arafat's Fatah faction is the dominant political
    force in the camp but has been frequently challenged by
    Islamic extremist groups in the recent past.

    On Thursday (November 14), a bomb blast ripped into
    offices of the Fatah movement in Ain el-Hilweh injuring one
    person after an unknown assailant threw a hand grenade at the
    entrance to the Fatah centre.

    Tensions have run high in the camp since Islamists clashed
    with fighters loyal to Fatah in August, leaving three people
    dead.

    Lebanese politicians hostile to some 350,000 Palestinian
    refugees registered in about a dozen camps across the country
    point to Ain el-Hilweh as a haven for militants and organised
    crime beyond the reach of Lebanese authorities.


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