LEBANON: THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ISRAELI ASSAULT ON PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL HEADQUARTERS

Record ID: 400885

  • Title: LEBANON: THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIANS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST ISRAELI ASSAULT ON PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL HEADQUARTERS
  • Date: 31st March 2002
  • Summary: (W4)AIN EL-HILWEH CAMP, SOUTH LEBANON (MARCH 30, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. HAS THOUSANDS OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES, SUPPORTERS OF BOTH ISLAMIC MILITANT HAMAS MOVEMENT AND PLO-ARAFAT, MARCHING THROUGH CAMP, IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENT ARAFAT; MV MASKED GUNMEN (SOME YOUNG BOYS) 0.15 2. SCU SMALL CHILD HOLDING RIFLE AND KORAN 0.22 3. MV MEN CHANTING SONGS
  • Embargoed: 15th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AIN EL-HILWEH REFUGEE CAMP, SOUTHERN LEBANON AND BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA9DCXS1X3YOCL7NBRG9D56D535
  • Story Text: Thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon have demonstrated
    against Israel's assault on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's
    headquarters in the West Bank.

    Thousands of Palestinian refugees, supporters of the
    Islamic militant Hamas movement and Yasser Arafat's
    Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), marched through Ain
    el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Saturday (March
    30) in a show of solidarity with Arafat.

    The violence sweeping the region for the past 18 months
    shifted up a gear after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
    declared Arafat an enemy and ordered an offensive, backed by
    tanks, against his Ramallah headquarters early on Friday
    (March 29).

    In Beirut hundreds of demonstrators from the PSP-Druze
    party held a protest outside the United Nation's headquarters
    in Beirut
    to demand U.N. action to stop the assault on Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat.

    Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party Militia (PSP) are a
    Druze Muslim militia, officially known as "The People's
    Liberation Army" but usually just called "the PSP" and are
    numbered at approximately 14,000.

    Meanwhile Israeli troops tightened their siege of a
    defiant Yasser Arafat in his battered headquarters on Saturday
    as the U.N. Security Council, with U.S. support, called on
    Israel to quit Palestinian cities.

    Israel criticised the council resolution for not
    emphasising Palestinian responsibility for attacks on Israelis
    which it said had prompted its drive into Palestinian areas.

    The Palestinian Authority said the resolution was
    positive, although not strong enough, and demanded an
    immediate Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of
    Ramallah.

    Aides said the embattled leader was losing contact with
    the outside world after Israeli forces cut telephone lines,
    water and power supplies to his ruined compound. Two of his
    bodyguards were wounded when tanks shelled their operations
    room overnight.

    After an all-night session, the Security Council passed a
    resolution urging Israelis and Palestinians to move
    immediately to a "meaningful ceasefire". It "calls for the
    withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities,
    including Ramallah".

    The Foreign Ministry said Israel had no interest in
    remaining in Ramallah or any other areas controlled by the
    Palestinian Authority, but gave no hint that it would leave.

    "The resolution correctly notes the need for a ceasefire
    as the first stage. Unfortunately, until now the Palestinians
    have acted to torpedo any effort to achieve such a ceasefire,"
    the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

    Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo
    welcomed the resolution but stressed Israel must implement it
    immediately and not use it to prolong the invasion and the
    siege of Arafat's headquarters.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register