LEBANON: Displaced Palestinians call for truce to continue so they can return to camp at Nahr al-Bared
Record ID:
345622
LEBANON: Displaced Palestinians call for truce to continue so they can return to camp at Nahr al-Bared
- Title: LEBANON: Displaced Palestinians call for truce to continue so they can return to camp at Nahr al-Bared
- Date: 30th May 2007
- Summary: (MER1) BADDAWI CAMP, NEAR TRIPOLI, LEBANON (MAY 29, 2007) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN FACTIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (DFLP) OFFICIAL ARKAN BADR SAYING: "We call for reinforcing the truce to allow for a peaceful solution in order to prevent further losses among our people in the camp and the Lebanese army. We call for the truce to reinforced in a way that preserves the security and safety of the camp and its residents who abide by the rule of law. The military option will only complicate things." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DEMOCRATIC FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE (DFLP) OFFICIAL ARKAN BADR SAYING: "We call on the Lebanese army to facilitate the return of our people to the Nahr al-Bared camp and to immediately begin rebuilding what was destroyed of their homes and provide basic social and humanitarian needs." MORE OF NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 14th June 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Lebanon
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA9LJUH00N5D5A17LOMOMFPE3JG
- Story Text: Displaced Palestinian refugees from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp on Tuesday (May 29) held a protest at the neighbouring Baddawi refugee camp calling the truce between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam militants to be upheld so they can return to their homes.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled Nahr al-Bared and most have gone to the nearby Baddawi camp, where there is serious overcrowding, the U.N. has reported.
"Muslims, we want to go back to our homes, do something! Our children have died, we raised them with our tears. We're dying of hunger and thirst but we don't want aid, we want to go back home," shouted one weeping woman who fled from Nahr al-Bared to the Baddawi camp.
The U.N. refugee agency UNRWA says Baddawi's population of 18,000 has more than doubled with the influx of the displaced, creating difficult humanitarian conditions. Some 5,000 to 7,000 refugees remain inside Nahr al-Bared camp, also suffering serious shortages of food, water and medicine.
Palestinian groups have been trying to broker a peaceful end to the stand-off which would include a permanent ceasefire in the camp, the pullback of Fatah al-Islam fighters, and the deployment of a Palestinian force to oversee the truce.
"We call for reinforcing the truce to allow for a peaceful solution in order to prevent further losses among our people in the camp and the Lebanese army. We call for the truce to reinforced in a way that preserves the security and safety of the camp and its residents who abide by the rule of law. The military option will only complicate things," Arkan Badr, of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), told a news conference after a meeting between Palestinian factional leaders to discuss the crisis.
"We call on the Lebanese army to facilitate the return of our people to the Nahr al-Bared camp and to immediately begin rebuilding what was destroyed of their homes and provide basic social and humanitarian needs," he added.
Sporadic fighting erupted on Tuesday between the Lebanese army and Sunni Islamist militants holed up in a battered Palestinian camp and there was no sign of an end to the 10-day standoff.
Intermittent clashes have punctured a fragile informal truce that was enforced last week to allow Nahr al-Bared's 40,000 refugees to flee due to lack of food, water and power.
At least 78 people have been killed, including 33 soldiers, 27 militants and 18 civilians.
The Lebanese army is not allowed to enter refugee camps under a 1969 Arab deal. But it has beefed up its positions around the camp indicating a possible military intervention inside the camp.
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC delivered a new convoy of aid to Nahr al-Bared's remaining residents. The aid agency delivered food and water through the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
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