Fatah al-Intifada refuses to lay down weapons

SIDON: Fatah al-Intifida’s representative in Lebanon Abu Moussa said Sunday he rejected the disarmament of Palestinian groups outside refugee camps as well as the formation of a Palestinian committee to sort out the issue. “Palestinian weapons are not part of an internal Lebanese formula but rather tied to the Arab-Israeli conflict which we believe did not come to an end,” Abu Moussa said. 

Abu Moussa spoke to reporters after a meeting with Sidon Mayor Abdel-Rahman al-Bizri at the latter’s residence in Sidon. 

The Fatah al-Intifada commander said his group did not follow the orders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and thus did not approve of the formation of a committee tasked with disarming Palestinian groups inside and outside of camps. 

“Palestinian factions which are not part of the framework of the PLO disapprove of this plan,” Abou Moussa said. 

Abu Moussa broke up with the PLO headed by late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in 1983 and fought, backed by Syrian troops, bloody clashes with the latter in Tripoli and the Bekaa region. 

Fatah al-Intifada currently occupies military bases in the Bekaa Valley near the Lebanese-Syrian border. 

Asked about a Syrian green light to disarm Palestinian groups outside refugee camps following Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus in December, Abu Moussa said his group does not take orders from Syria despite his alliance with the country. 

As for tying the Palestinian refugees’ civil rights to the issue of arms, Abu Moussa said the two issues were separate. 

“We demand that our people are granted their civil rights in Lebanon similarly to Palestinian refugees living in Syria or other Arab states,” he added 

Abu Moussa also rejected integrating arms outside refugee camps with those inside the camps.