A delayed summary on what happened in Hiwar 11 June

Beyond Fatah Al-Islam:
Rhetoric on conflict, relief, causes & effects

Sharif Bibi, Marcy Newman, and Rania Masri

Another actual topic concerning a sudden rise of Fatah al-Islam to the spotlights gathered around a crew of active citizens at Tonga Club in Hamra.

Developments in the Palestinian camps

Speakers Sharif Bibi, Marcy Newman and Rania Masri shared their experiences in the camps as humanitarian relief workers. They introduced Nahr Al-Bared relief campaign that started as an independent group of volunteers, clubs, AUB professors and students focusing on relief work in Baddawi camp. A major flow of refugees ended up at Baddawi camp, where around 3400 families were staying at schools and private homes of the Baddawi residents. However, the number of people fleeing Nahr Al-Bared kept on increasing and the lack of accommodation drove 600 Palestinian families from North to other camps, such as Mar Elias, Al Barajneh and Sabra. Here the main focus shifted from schools and public places to homes where the bulk of the people were being placed. As a consequence, a growing need for relief work in Beirut has emerged, and international organizations have been asked to direct their resources to Beirut.

Government and Fatah Al-Islam

Since the beginning of the crisis all political leaders have considered Fatah Al Islam as a non-Palestinian group. As to any political reasons for the lack of profound relief campaigns, Ms. Newman said that PM Siniora’s main concern was to first finish operations in Nahr Al-Bared and Ein El-Hilweh camps and then focus on rebuilding the camps. What is needed in the first place is, according to Na-aM lil Hiwar guest speakers, a dialogue among the Lebanese and a separation of social work from politics. Palestinians face a lot of racism and suffer from the lack of basic civil rights. They are afraid to leave the camps because they are being constantly harassed. Therefore, awareness work towards racism should be urgently done.

Discussion

Media coverage of the events was claimed to be far from the truth and inefficient. Media does not show the number of civilians dead and, according to relief workers there are around 23 civilian casualties in addition to the lost of lives among the Fatah Al-Islam fighters and the Lebanese army.

In the course of the discussion, Marcy Newman strongly supported Samuel Hersh’s report, according to which Hariri was involved in bringing in Fatah Al-Islam to fight Shi’ia presence and thus, when the funding of the group was suddenly cut down, the members robbed a bank and the fighting started. Rania Masri stressed the point of Fatah Al-Islam not being a Palestinian group, and the funding and the cause of the conflict not originating from the Palestinian residents living in Lebanon. Most of the audience agreed upon this and considered the events an external conspiracy against Palestinians, Lebanon, and the Lebanese army.