 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 12 - 18 August 1999 Issue No. 442 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 12 - 18 August 1999 Issue No. 442
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Books Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters 'One day we will return'
By Zeina KhodrAbu Brahim is one of some 350,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Ever since he fled Palestine in 1948, he has been living in the Ayn Al-Helweh refugee camp in the southern city of Sidon. Fifty years on and this 80-year-old man has still not given up hope of returning to his homeland.
"I may be too old to fight," he told Al-Ahram Weekly, "but my children and many other young men will continue the struggle so that one day we will return."
His hopes and dreams are unlikely to be fulfilled, at least within his own lifetime. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has ruled out the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to Israel. "I don't think there are any circumstances under which they will be able to return to Israel," he said in recent statements. "A solution for them should be found in the countries where they are now living."
But Lebanon disagrees. It has made the return of refugees a precondition for peace with Israel. "Our position is that we insist on an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the Golan Heights and a guarantee of the right of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to return home," President Emile Lahoud said.
Prime Minister Selim Al-Hoss accused Barak of damaging the prospects for peace. "Lebanon categorically rejects his statements which do not augur well at a time when there is a serious prospect of talks being resumed," he said. "Lebanon insists on having its say regarding the fate of the refugees. We will not allow others to decide their fate because we are directly involved."
Hoss' comments were intended to allay right-wing Christian fears that a resettlement of the predominantly Muslim Palestinians would upset Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance. These fears were openly expressed by Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. "The peace that is being promised may have drastic adverse consequences. If the resettlement of Palestinians in vast under-populated Arab countries is not acceptable then the effects on a small highly over populated country like Lebanon would be even more dire," he said during a sermon. Many Lebanese blame the Palestinian guerrilla groups for fuelling Lebanon's civil war (1975-'90).
Interior Minister Michel Al-Murr said a new clause has been added to the naturalisation draft law to prevent Palestinians from gaining citizenship. "A clause was added to Article 43 saying Palestinians could not benefit from the law. This change is minor but was added to quell the fears of some groups such as the Maronite League," Murr said. Barak's statements raise fears in Lebanon and among its Palestinian population that they will have to pay the price for a regional settlement.
"Barak cannot undermine their right," Sultan Abul-Ainayn, the Lebanon leader of Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction, said. "Arab countries hosting the refugees should produce a mechanism that is capable of helping the Palestinians return to their homes."
"The subject of the refugees is a sensitive one," former prime minister and MP Omar Karame said. "The authorities have avoided discussing it in order to head off sectarian conflict inherent in the issue of naturalising the remaining refugees."
But Palestinian officials here are warning that resettlement may be inevitable. "The Lebanese government should be aware of the dangers that lie ahead," Fatah dissident Colonel Munir Makdah told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Lebanon must give us rights, it must ease restrictions imposed on us, it must recognise us as a community so that we can retain our Palestinian identity." Beirut has denied Palestinians political and civil rights as well as basic services so as not to encourage them to stay.
George Habash, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), stressed the need for up to four million Palestinians scattered around the world to return to their homes. He made the statement in Beirut. It was the first time he had visited the Lebanese capital since the PLO was forced to leave Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion. "The US and Israel want the refugees to stay outside their homeland," Habash charged.
But Palestinians know that they have to close ranks so as to agree on a joint strategy in negotiating a final peace agreement with Israel. Nowhere are the divisions among them more evident than in the Ayn Al-Helweh camp, home to the various factions. The camp used to be a stronghold of the Palestinian opponents to Arafat's peace accords with Israel. But now the opposition is worried and suspicious following the reopening of two pro-Arafat offices in the camp. "We consider this move as the initial step to resettling the refugees in Lebanon," opposition sources said. "Their opening was motivated by Arafat's desire to use the refugee issue as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations. Palestinians are fearful of being resettled. The two Arafat factions which opened offices -- the Popular National Struggle Front and the Front for the Liberation of Palestine -- are offering handsome salaries to their new cadres."
According to press reports here, Arafat is trying to reassert his presence and influence among the Palestinian community in Lebanon in the hope of using his followers and supporters as a pressure mechanism to strengthen his bargaining power in peace talks. "Through this community, he hopes to influence the Syrian-Lebanese peace track with Israel," Al-Shiraa magazine reported. The weekly added that Arafat was worried that he might be left behind after Syria and Israel resume their talks. He wants to strengthen his position in the negotiations by winning the widest support possible among his opponents. Al-Shiraa cited another concern which has prompted Arafat to act which is the efforts being made by Palestinian opposition factions to establish a representative body that could eventually challenge his self-rule Palestinian Authority.
