Refugees in Lebanon…Layers of Ordeals

The camp's walkways are narrow with hanging electricity wires connecting to the houses. (IOL Photo)

Beirut's Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian camp is placed on 1 square kilometer space and is home to around 21,000 Palestinians—offspring of villagers expelled in 1948 from their homes in what is now Israel.

The camp is now home to over 100 extra Palestinian refugees who continue to trickle in from the bombed out Nahr al-Barid camp in the north.

"There isn't much aid coming to us from UNRWA, but there are some non-affiliated NGOs who are offering some help," said our escort, who met us under a large Hamas poster placed at the entrance of the gate next to a fading poster of former President Yassir Arafat, "The refugees here live day by day, they have no stable jobs, but everyone is giving what they can give."

The only clear affiliated efforts to settle the refugees in Bourj al-Barajneh came from the social sector of Hamas.

With the arrival of the first wave of refugees from Nahr al-Barid, a committee was created to survey the available space and aid needed.

Sometimes they were lucky to find empty homes in which they managed to place some families, but most of the time they had to seek permission from existing families to host more people.

"This made matters much worse," said a young Hamas social worker, "Most of the homes here are very small; two rooms maximum, and they are often inhabited by families of six or more members. So how can we give them even more people? Even when they welcomed them, which they always do, there is hardly space to place a mattress for a person to sleep on. So they spend most of the time out of the house because of the crowded atmosphere."

The United Nations pleaded for the welfare of more than 10,000 civilians still trapped by the Lebanese army in the coastal camp of Nahr al-Bared.

Ordeal

With this bleak introduction, we began our journey through narrow, damp walkways, hanging electricity wires, and into the already crowded refugee homes that now hosted more people inside. It was impossible to picture how such homes held double their capacity.

Despite the difficult conditions in which these homes were built and the current troubling situation they are in, we were struck by how, on the inside, they were clean and tidy.

The refugees coming from Nahr al-Barid were timid and all of them refused to be identified or to have their pictures taken. They gave conflicting observations that made it difficult to draw a complete picture in the beginning.

We entered the first home and found three teenagers, we listened as their mother served us juice.

"We fled the camp at 11 PM, after the truce was announced. The Lebanese army shot at civilian homes, with no evidence of the militants being there," said Mohammad, a green-eyed 16-year-old who showed noticeable confidence as he recalled his ordeal.

"We had no militants shooting from our homes and yet our house was hit. No person would allow the militants into the rooftops of their homes to shoot at the army," he added.

"It was very difficult for us to flee because of the shooting, and it wasn't easy to make calls, there was hardly electricity for us to charge any mobile phone. With each bombing there would be shrapnel everywhere, and then the camp would be filled with a bad unusual smell."

"I had the blood of a teenager splintered at me in an instant," said another, "There was random shooting. Random, merciless shooting coming from all directions."

A man in his late forties appeared terrorized, angry, and frustrated. "We were refugees in the north and now we are refugees in Beirut hosted by refugees," he said with a nervous smile, "We are rejected, unwanted by anyone. Why doesn't everyone kill us [Palestinians] all and be finished?"

Many of the Nahr al-Barid refugees specifically chose Bourj al-Barajneh for its distance. As we walked further through the alleys, our escort explained to us the reason behind the influx. "Some of us fled to Bedawi camp, some to Eih el-Helweh, but it's unwise. Violence can spread to these camps any minute."

We walked on to Abu Kamal's house. A home with 3 rooms for a family of 6 people that now received 8 refugees. At the door we took our shoes off in respect to the custom of most of the families there, and walked on a clean floor and sat. The door of one of the rooms was open, showing a line of mattresses placed on the floor. There were men and women in the house, women dressed in hijab now all the time, since they hardly have any privacy.

"The camp was filled with young youth who had no sense of life direction. They knew nothing about their religion and many of them sometimes committed blasphemy. With the coming of Fatah al-Islam, many of its members used to guide this youth and teach them more about Islam," said an old man who refused to be identified.

"It would be unfair to say that they [Fatah al-Islam] were completely bad," said one of the women, "they used to stand by the poor and help the needy."

Fatah al-Islam

Through further conversation, it became apparent that none of the Fatah al-Islam militants were Lebanese. They came from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and many other Arab countries.

Fatah al-Islam is a Sunni salafi group that emerged among others in the north of Lebanon, basing themselves in Palestinian refugee camps such as Nahr Al Barid and Ein Al Helweh.

Some observers say the group, which drew more attention recently, was funded and supported by the Future Movement under the auspices of the current Lebanese government as a balancing counterforce to meet the rising challenge of Shiite Hizbullah.

In his article " The Redirection ," published in The New Yorker on March 5, 2007, American journalist Seymour Hersch pointed to evidence of US and certain Arab states supporting Saad Al Hariri's Future Movement in funding Sunni militant groups, more specifically after the summer war in Lebanon.

"Hersch is right," said Abu Kamal, "the militants had a lot of money with them. They used to give whoever was in need. They would pay for widows and help the poor. But dollars would pop out of their pocket any time. Where did they get that money from?"

In a special interview with IslamOnline.net, to soon be published in full, retired General Amin Hoteit of the Lebanese Army says: "These movements have entered the camps under the blessings and support for the Lebanese authority. There is no other way they could enter."

He notes that one of the people whose name came in the investigations of the assassination of former premier Rafik Al Hariri was involved with these movements, but he was never arrested.

Third Party  

In retrospect, the residents of Abu Kamal's house reflected on their helplessness during the fighting in the camp.

They could not stop the Fatah al-Islam militants from shooting, and some were impossible to approach during heightening tension, because they would simply blow themselves up, killing others in the process.

"We used to spot people carrying rifles and randomly shooting, but they were clearly neither from the Lebanese Army nor from Fatah al-Islam," said Abu Kamal.

"They wore civilian clothes, and many times they were the ones who would start the shooting, provoking the Lebanese Army to hit back at the camp."

A tingling thought remained in the air about the direct involvement of the Future Movement in view of accounts from refugees and observations of analysts.

In a video tape aired by Al-Jazeera news television, Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Abssi said his group's battle was with "Jews and Americans" and not Lebanon.

He insisted the group was "not a threat to the security of Lebanon" and accused an unidentified "third party" in the ruling coalition of starting the hostilities.

More US planes full of military aid arrived in Lebanon after Congress approved a massive seven-fold boost in military support for the country, to 280 million dollars in 2007.

Fatah al-Islam spokesman Abu Salim Taha claimed the US was bringing "non-conventional weapons" including nerve gas to Lebanon and threatened a response.

Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has warned the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora against turning the siege into a new front in the US-led "war on terror."

Lebanon continues under layers of ordeals, forever a ground for forces vying for power and civilians victimized in the middle.

But hope never fades even with those "double refugees" now in Beirut's refugee camps. Greeting welcoming smiles, servings of tea and juice, and kind old people like Hajjeh Zeinab tell that it will one day be over. 


All names in the feature have been changed for privacy.