Jointly published by the United States Committee for a Free Lebanon and the Middle East Forum
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Palestinans in Lebanon Prepare to Resume Armed Struggle
In anticipation of the expected withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon this summer, Palestinian groups in Lebanon have begun a massive campaign to bolster their military strength with the avowed aim of resuming armed struggle against Israel.
Earlier this month, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud sent UN Secretary General Kofi Annan a memorandum stating that Lebanon would be unable to prevent the "possibility of mini-wars on the border, launched by armed Palestinian groups originating from the Palestinian camps inside Lebanon." The letter was widely interpreted as an implicit invitation from Syria for Palestinian groups to assert themselves. "Let's call a spade a spade. Lahoud's presidential memorandum . . . was either penned or dictated by Syria" wrote one Syrian commentator in the daily al-Quds al-Arabi. "Lahoud has essentially announced that the Lebanese state is not fully in control of nine-tenths of its territory."1
Ramadan Abdallah Shallah, head of the pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla group Islamic Jihad, quickly accepted the offer, telling a Lebanese newspaper that his group "will not disappoint President Lahoud" and "will keep up the struggle to return to our homeland."2 On April 16, the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command [PFLP-GC] staged an armed demonstration by about 50 armed guerillas in the al-Baddawi Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
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| Munir al Maqdah (right) with a new recruit |
There are also visible preparations for the resumption of military operations against Israel taking place within the Lebanese branch of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Colonel Munir al Maqdah, a dissident Fatah commander in Lebanon, said in remarks published on April 8 that "tens of volunteers from all Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have come for training and attacks on Israel" in recent weeks.3 Fatah currently has about 1,200 armed fighters in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. �If UN Resolution 194, which calls for the return home of all Palestinians displaced in 1948, is not implemented, there will be no security [for Israel]," Al-Maqdah later told the Beirut Weekly Monday Morning. "The Resistance will continue even if all the armies on earth are massed on the frontier between Lebanon and the Zionist entity." Al-Maqdah and other Fatah officials have repeatedly said no arrangement involving the transfer of Palestinians from Lebanon to other countries is acceptable.
PA officials in Gaza have disavowed al-Maqdah's threats, accusing him of acting on behalf of Syria.
1 Al-Quds al-Arabi, 7 April 2000.
2 Al-Safir (Beirut), 6 April 2000.
3 Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, 8 April 2000
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