22 May 2007

BEIRUT: Representatives of the main Palestinian factions in Lebanon held talks with Premier Fouad Siniora Monday, offering their help in fighting Islamic militants currently engaging the Lebanese Army in its harshest battle since the Civil War. "The decision to enter Palestinian refugee camps is a purely Lebanese concern, but doing so seems to be a difficult endeavor because the lives of innocent civilians will be put at risk," the representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, said following the meeting.

The government is debating whether to send the army into the Nahr al-Bared camp, where the militant Fatah al-Islam group is headquartered.

Zaki said Siniora informed the delegation "he was keen on having civilians inside of Nahr al-Bared saved from any harm." He said the Lebanese Army protected "not only the Lebanese but also the Palestinians."

Zaki added that "ordinary" Palestinians ought not to be drawn into the matter "because they, as much as the Lebanese, consider Fatah al-Islam a dangerous terrorist group that threatens their safety."

"It's important that both Lebanese and Palestinians try to overcome the memory of deadly conflicts of the past in order to build more healthy ties based on mutual respect," he said.

In a related development, Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal called Siniora Monday to urge him to "protect Palestinian as well as Lebanese souls" inside the Nahr al-Bared camp.

Meshaal, who resides in Damascus, also made phone calls to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Arab League boss Amr Moussa, calling on them to "make necessary efforts to protect the lives of blameless Palestinians."

Siniora later met with the personal representative of the UN secretary general in Lebanon, Geir Pedersen, who described the attacks on the army as a "terrorist act that should in no way go unpunished."

In Rabieh, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun held the Siniora government responsible for the fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam.

"A clear-cut decision ought to be taken so that violence does not spread to other parts of Lebanon or else terrorist attacks will start targeting innocent Lebanese civilians," he said.

In a news conference Monday afternoon, while fierce battles were taking place in the vicinity on the Nahr al-Bared camp, Aoun accused the government of "blatant neglect," and of "pure incompetence."

"We are currently witnessing a true fiasco, where the government is incapable of taking any sensible decisions apart from showing linguistic support to the army and this is clearly not enough," he said.

Aoun said attacks on the army were part of a "plot" to show the army was incapable of defending itself, and hence the Lebanese, "but the army is not to be blamed here but rather our uninvolved government."

In a statement Monday, parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri denounced a bombing the night before in the neighborhood of Achrafieh, saying it was "closely" linked to attacks on the army in Tripoli.

One person was killed and at least 16 were wounded late Sunday when a bomb went off near the ABC shopping mall.

"The group standing behind terrorist attacks should be known to all, for it is the same group which has been plotting devious scenarios against Lebanon for the past two-and-a-half years," Hariri said, in reference to Syria.

Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt said in an interview with Al-Anbaa magazine on Monday that riots instigated by Fatah al-Islam were "tightly related" to the string of political tensions incited by pro-Syrian groups in Lebanon."

He said Syria had "threatened on several occasions to rouse tensions in Lebanon, and the current turmoil is a clear demonstration to such threats."

Earlier Monday, Defense Minister Elias Murr said the blood spilled by the army "will not be wasted," adding that assailants would be "severely punished."

Meanwhile, a number of politicians congregated at the Roman Orthodox diocese of Mosseitbeh Monday to meet with Archbishop Elias Aoude after the Achrafieh blast wrought damage on the Orthodox-affiliated Zahret al-Ihsan School.

Education Minister Khaled Qabbabi said public schools were ready to welcome Zahret al-Ihsan students for the remainder of the year.

President Emile Lahoud urged that a national day of mourning be declared "to express our sympathy and solidarity with martyrs of the Lebanese Army."