AhlulBayt News Agency: Mahmoud Abbas and his son seem to treat the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon as if they were a family business: their human capital is the refugees, and their assets are the camps themselves.
Under pressure from the United States and the Lebanese prime minister, at the urging of Israel, Abbas was ordered to withdraw weapons from the Palestinian camps. Fulfilling this mandate, he visited Lebanon and met with Lebanese authorities, but he did not visit the camps or the refugees, who were the backbone of the Palestinian revolution in the 1960s. Nor did he visit the Sabra and Shatila cemeteries, where the victims of the genocide that occurred in those camps are buried.
Abbas has expelled those who opposed his decisions from Fatah, replacing them with those loyal to him, but not necessarily to the Palestinian people. His plan to disarm the camps in Lebanon would leave Palestinians unprotected and vulnerable to the State of Israel and its right-wing Lebanese allies.
The Palestinian presence in Lebanon is not limited to weapons: it is a history of more than 100 years. Many generations have been born on Lebanese soil, contributing to the country's economic, educational, and cultural development. However, the vast majority of Palestinians in Lebanon cannot engage in many professions, as they are prohibited from working in 64 activities outside the refugee camps.
They live and work in inhumane conditions, surrounded by the Lebanese army; entering or leaving the camps requires military permission.
The solution to the arms problem must be discussed within a broader framework of negotiation, including labor rights, education, social security, property rights, and security. Palestinians in Lebanon are temporary residents, because they all yearn for the right to return to their homes and properties, stolen by Israel after the 1948 expulsion.
August 25, 2025
Source by Editorial of the Palestinian Union of Latin America - UPAL
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