- Title: LEBANON: Tension high after Lebanon assassination
- Date: 25th March 2009
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN REFUGEE ABDUL FATTAH JABER SAYING: "We are not afraid and we hope nothing will happen in the camps, and we know that what happened was an Israeli act to stir strife but our leaders are more mature to be driven to that." STREET SCENE IN THE CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN REFUGEE AHMED KAYED SAYING: "This is an external act and noth
- Embargoed: 9th April 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Lebanon
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAAJ0OP9TJ0DTCLDM60I1PDH49E
- Story Text: Tensions are high in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon after the assassination of a senior Fatah official.
Tensions were high in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon on Tuesday (March 24) after the assassination of a Palestinian official on Monday.
A bomb killed a senior official in the Palestinian Fatah faction and four other people in southern Lebanon.
Kamal Medhat, deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Lebanon, was killed with his companions on a road near Mieh Mieh refugee camp outside the southern city of Sidon.
The bomb, hidden under a manhole cover, hurled one car off the road into a nearby orchard. Another car plunged into what appeared to be a crater left by the blast.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned Medhat's killing as an act of terrorism. Hamas also condemned the attack.
Medhat had been accompanying Lebanon PLO representative Abbas Zaki, who was not injured in the blast, on a visit to Mieh Mieh camp. Lebanon is home to 12 Palestinian refugee camps that house more than 200,000 registered refugees.
Both had been attending a meeting to reconcile feuding families in the camp.
Palestinian sources in Lebanon said Medhat had been involved in an internal power struggle within Fatah, while senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said he had played a "very great role" in easing tensions among Palestinian groups in the country.
Tensions have been high in Mieh Mieh and the nearby Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh, where Fatah and a range of Islamist factions compete for influence.
"We are not afraid and we hope nothing will happen in the camps, and we know that what happened was an Israeli act to stir strife but our leaders are more mature to be driven to that," a Palestinian refugee in Shatila camp Abdul Fattah Jaber said .
"This is an external act and nothing to do between Hamas and Fatah and I don't think Hamas is related to this, this is a coward assassination and I think the Israeli enemy was behind it and its collaborators," Ahmed Kayed , another Palestinian refugee, said.
Two people, including a Fatah activist, were killed on Saturday in a gunbattle in Mieh Mieh camp. The clash was attributed to a family dispute.
Tensions among Palestinians remain a potential risk to stability in Lebanon, which has suffered from a string of assassinations, a war with Israel and a paralysing internal political crisis in the past few years. Lebanon is due to hold a parliamentary election on June 7. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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