Disarmament of Palestinian camps in Lebanon likely to be postponed

The disarmament of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps is likely to be delayed beyond a mid-June deadline, a Palestinian source told The National.

An official within the Fatah movement in Lebanon said the plan will not be put into effect until after a Palestinian delegation headed by Azaam Al Ahmad returns to Beirut to meet representatives of all Palestinian factions.

“The discussion [of disarmament] has been postponed until after Azaam Al Ahmad arrives in Lebanon,” the source said, adding that Mr Al Ahmad was not expected until “after June 15”.

He is the deputy head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), second to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who devised the agreement with Lebanese leaders.

“When Azaam al Ahmad was here, he was supposed to also meet with the coalition which includes Hamas, but their leaders were traveling,” the source said.

He declined to provide an exact date.

Mid-June was given as a start date for the beginning of the disarmament process for Palestinian factions in Lebanon. Lebanese political sources and officials within the Fatah movement, the dominant political party within the PLO, had said the disarmament would begin with Beirut camps Shatila, Burj Al Barajneh, and Mar Elias.

Hamas in Lebanon has dismissed the disarmament plan agreed upon by Mr Abbas and Lebanese leaders as “unilateral”, saying they had been left out of the agreement between Palestinian officials and Lebanese leaders. The disarmament plan represents only Hamas's main opponent, the Palestinian Authority, the movement has said.

Hamas also said it was never formally informed of a decision to disarm the camps, insisting on a dialogue of representatives from all Palestinian factions – including a coalition of factions that includes Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and other Islamist groups not under the authority of the PLO.

The disarmament decision has also stirred controversy within Palestinian factions in Lebanon that also hold membership in the PLO, which contains representatives of a diverse array of Palestinian factions with varying ideologies.

On Friday, a statement by the Lebanese branch of the Popular Struggle Front, a PLO member, was critical of the unilateral nature of the disarmament decision, saying the agreement was never presented to all Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

“It would have been more appropriate for the owner of the vision and ideas to present them” to representatives of the joint factions in Lebanon, said Tamer Aziz Abu Al Abed, a representative of the Struggle Front.

He added that the plan had not achieved a majority of Palestinian confidence or approval in Lebanon.

“We hope in the coming days to put all the papers up for discussion with the presidential delegation coming to Lebanon,” he said.

The issue of disarming Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, which are not under Lebanese state control, has long been contentious. Groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, dedicated to armed resistance against Israel and allied with Hezbollah, have frequently used Lebanon as a base to launch rockets at Israel.

Disarming the camps comes under a broader initiative by Lebanese leaders to limit and disarm non-state forces. But the memory of Lebanon's 1975–1990 civil war – during which Palestinian militias were among the main participants, alongside a series of Lebanese factions and international proxies – still lingers for many Palestinians, who view weapons as essential for self-defence.

Weaponry also holds deep symbolic value for Palestinians in Lebanon, many of whom were expelled from their land in 1948 during the Nakba, which marked the creation of what is now Israel. For them, arms represent not only protection but a continuing struggle to return to their homeland.

Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinian refugees, many of whom live in the 12 overcrowded camps, according to the UN agency UNRWA.

Most are direct refugees or descendants of Palestinians who were expelled from their land during a violent mass removal that led to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. They face a variety of legal restrictions in Lebanon, including on employment.