The camps’ security are overseen by various Palestinian groups, and have witnessed deadly armed clashes [Ali Hankir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Lebanon later in May to discuss the disarmament of the country’s Palestinian refugee camps, as Beirut seeks to monopolise all weapons outside state control.
Lebanese media reports said Abbas will visit Lebanon on 21 and 22 May to discuss the issue with his Lebanese counterpart, Joseph Aoun, and other top officials.
The reports say his visit aims to address the removal of Palestinian weapons from the camps, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) has “no objection to.”
Reports earlier this week said the Lebanese army had already begun preparations to disarm the Beddawi camp in north Lebanon, cutting off all roads leading in and out of the camp and leaving only one route accessible.
Lebanon has hosted hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in 12 refugee camps since they were forcibly expelled from their homes upon the creation of Israel in 1948, an event known as the Nakba.
In 1969, after talks in Cairo, Lebanon agreed to hand over control of the camps to the Palestinian Armed Struggle Command, led by the late Yasser Arafat. This was known as the Cairo Accord.
Palestinian groups later took up arms and often launched attacks on Israel from Lebanese soil, which became one of the main factors behind the eruption of the Lebanese civil war in 1975.
The Cairo Accord was later annulled by the Lebanese parliament in 1987.
Nevertheless, by long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter Palestinian refugee camps — now bustling but impoverished urban districts — leaving Palestinian factions to manage security. These factions include various groups, such as Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others.
Some of these camps have long been used as havens by extremist Islamist groups and have witnessed clashes between rival factions, most notably in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian camp in the country located near the southern port city of Sidon. The Lebanese army has previously coordinated with Palestinian factions to hand over fugitives.
North Lebanon’s Nahr al-Bared camp was destroyed in a months-long conflict in 2007 between the Lebanese army and militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Fatah al-Islam group, which resulted in hundreds of casualties on both sides and ended in a Lebanese victory.
Many Lebanese parties argue that the presence of weapons inside Palestinian camps serves no purpose for the Palestinian cause and instead contributes to instability in Lebanon.
Palestinian sources told the Asas Media news site that the PA’s decision “has been made” in Lebanon and can be summed up by what Abbas has long maintained: “Weapons in the camps will not liberate Palestine.”
However, the source added that in return for the PA’s willingness to fully cooperate with Beirut, the Lebanese state must guarantee the security of the camps and of Palestinian refugees living in the country.
Lebanon has vowed to fully implement a ceasefire deal reached last year that ended an all-out war between the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group and Israel.
The agreement, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, states that all non-state armed factions must be disarmed and that only state authorities are allowed to bear arms.
President Aoun vowed in his January inauguration speech to extend state sovereignty over the Palestinian camps, as well as to disarm all Lebanese militant groups, including Hezbollah – the only group that retained its arsenal following the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990.
