By NNN-KUNA
Beirut : The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is committed to the decision by the Lebanese government to extend authority over the Palestinian refugee camp north of the country, PLO emissary Abbas Zaki said.
“Sixty per cent of Nahr Al-Bared buildings are fit for occupation and the return to the camp should start in two days …. Return is inevitable,” Zaki told a consultative meeting tackling the impact of the camp’s crisis on the Palestinian and Lebanese scenes Monday.
“The (Lebanese) state only has to be inside the camp …. We are no state within a state,” Zaki said noting that the PLO was discussing means to provide urgent aid to the Palestinians displaced during the clashes between the Fatah Al-Islam militants and the Lebanese military.
“Conditions in Nahr Al-Bared will be different and no refugee will be allowed to have weapons inside the camp,” Zaki noted.
He referred to the PLO relations with the Lebanese government as “developing”, noting that the government “so bravely” opened all files related to the Palestinians in the country.
Commenting on the general conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, especially in Beirut, Zaki said: “One can’t believe it. A Palestinian camp in central Beirut, and is not linked to a sanitary drainage network and lacks infrastructure.”
The Nahr Al-Bared events that ended late last month with a victory for the Lebanese army against the Fatah Al-Islam militia caused up to 30,000 Palestinian refugees to flee the camp to the Al-Badawi camp and other parts in north Lebanon.
The Lebanese government is working on plans and studies for the reconstruction of the camp, to be later sent to the countries that took part in a relevant conference held in the Lebanese capital earlier this month, and that are to provide financing for the operation.