Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 6)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 6)
- المحتوى
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which targeted most of the camp. More
houses were destroyed. The shelling
stopped for that day and _ sniping
resumed. As expected, shelling started
again in the evening, lasting until the
early hours of the morning. The next
day, Oct. 6th, Amal snipers were
active. This pattern was repeated for
the next two days-heavy shelling at
night and sniping during the day.
Early on Oct. 7th, a joint delegation,
including representatives from Amal,
the PNSF and Syrian observers, headed
for Tyre in an attempt to reinforce the
ceasefire. The delegation met with lea-
ders of Amal, who agreed to a complete
ceasefire, in order to facilitate the
implementation of the _ previously
signed agreement. However, on the
same day, Amal escalated the shelling
of the camp for two hours, using all
types of mortars. One Palestinian was
martyred, and two others were injured.
ARRESTS AND
BANISHMENT
On the same day, Amal gangs laun-
ched a campaign of arrests in the Tyre
area. Hundreds of Palestinian families
were warned to leave the camps within
48 hours. These families have lived in
the villages and camps of the South for
years, Im many cases since 1948.
Spurred by the necessity of putting a
stop to this harassment, the joint
committee, including representatives
of the PNSF, Amal and Syrian obser-
vers, met in Tyre, to implement the
Sept. 1Sth agreement, signed in
Damascus. Tension lessened tempora-
rily as a result of the intense political
and mass activities. Reports from the
camp said that since Sept. 30th, there
had been 36 injured, 6 of them criti-
cally, and 4 martyrs, in addition to
unidentified bodies scattered in the
fields.
Amal did not wait more than 24
hours to start the shelling again, from
the night of Oct. 8th until daylight.
Sniping went on the whole day until the
joint committee arrived and met with
the popular committee and later with
the PNSF. While the joint committee
was in the camp, the injured were eva-
cuated. Immediately after the com-
mittee left the camp, at 2 a.m. on Oct.
9th, Amal’s fire started again, and went
on until morning, when sniping started.
Amal’s snipers murdered one civilian’
and injured four others, despite the fact
that the Palestinian fighters were com-
pletely committed to the ceasefire
agreement. Amal’s violations forced
‘the joint committee to return to Rashi-
diya on the 12th, taking a decision to
Stay there lest the situation erupt again.
A messenger carried a letter to
Damascus, to inform the Syrian lea-
dership of the situation, and ask them
to exert more pressure on Amal to
abide by the agreement, especially to
6
allow foodstuffs into the camp and
release the prisoners.
The next day, the joint committee
and the popular committee met with
Amal’s leadership in Tyre. Amal’s lea-
dership demanded that all weapons in
the camp be surrendered, saying that
until then they would continue to
besiege the camp. They claimed that the
popular committee was unable to res-
trict the Palestinians in the camp, hol-
ding it responsible for the eruption of
the situation! The popular committee
answered that its function is services,
and the issue of weapons is outside its
jurisdiction. The popular committee
demanded that Amal restrict its own
people. At the end of the meeting, the
Amal leadership agreed to the follo-
wing points:
1. total ceasefire from both sides;
2. prohibiting the carrying of arms in
public;
3. holding seminars in the camp,
emphasizing brotherhood between the
two sides;
4. allowing the popular committee to
take charge of the camp;
5. a joint military operations room.
Amal also promised to allow students
in the camp to go to school and to
release the prisoners immediately.
Based on the popular committee’s
demands, Amal agreed to allow women
to go in and out of the camp to bring
foodstuffs.
The next day, Oct. 14th, Amal’s
leadership confirmed its commitment
to the ceasefire agreement, and allowed
four Red Cross vehicles to enter the
camp, but the prisoners were not
released.
CEASEFIRE VIOLATED
AGAIN
On Oct. 15th, as soon as the joint
committee left the camps, Amal ele-
ments violated the agreement by setting
up new sandbag barricades around the
camp, allowing only six cars to leave,
and confiscating foodstuffs at the
roadblocks. Moreover, at the road-
blocks, Amal elements beat and humi-
liated Palestinians, threatening their
lives if they did not leave the camps.
Sniping started, murdering one Pales-
tinian. The next day, Amal built more
barricades, closed all the roads, and
prevented civilians from bringing fuel
for their oil stoves.
On Oct. 21st, the camp woke up to
the sound of shelling. Soon after, the
PNSF contacted Nabih Berri to inform
him of the situation in Rashidiya. Berri
in turn called a meeting early the next
day with the PNSF, the Lebanese
nationalist forces and the Syrians.
Meanwhile Amal escalated the shelling
and destroyed several houses in the
camp. No meetings managed to stop
Amal this time. The shelling continued
for two days, which led the Palestinians
to launch a military attack on an Amal
post in the Shawakir area of Tyre. The
Palestinians were able to completely
destroy the post, and cause Amal 17
casualties. One Palestinian fighter was
injured. Later the same day, another
military operation was _ launched
against an Amal post in Ras Al Ein. An
Amal fighter was killed, and many were
injured.
Those two military operations
silenced Amal for one night, but Amal
reinforced their ranks and started shel-
ling the next day, killing civilians and
destroying many houses. Reports from
the camp on Oct. 24th, said that thou-
sands of Amal gangsters were being
mobilized in all areas of the South in
preparation for a massive attack on the
camp. This was accompanied by a
broad campaign of arrests. When their
jails could not accommodate more pri-
soners, Amal used schools to detain
Palestinians. Amal forced hundreds of
families to leave, and toured the camp
with loudspeakers agitating for «Jihad»
(holy war) and «the war of revenge for
Hussein» (a Shiite prophet). Reports
from the camp said that the war has
reached its most dangerous climax, and
that the guarantees given by Amal were
no more than ploys for gaining time.
A group of Palestinians loyal to
Arafat mobilized a large force on Oct.
25th, and advanced to take two Amal
posts without meeting any resistance.
The same group took over Amal posts
near Maghdoosha, a Lebanese village
south of Ain Al Hilweh, after a fierce
battle. The Palestinian groups took
some prisoners and captured some
weapons.
In retaliation, Amal barbarically
Shelled Rashidiya all night on Oct.
25th. The next day, Amal launched a
counterattack to recover their posts,
but the attempt failed, after a battle so
fierce that some of Amal’s shells fell on
the city of Tyre. Eleven Palestinians
were martyred, and thirteen injured.
As a result of a meeting between
Mustafa Sa’ad, general secretary of the
Nasserite Popular Organization, Dr.
Nazeeh Bizree, head of the Political
Council of Sidon, Lieutenant Colonel
Zyad, head of the Syrian observers,
members of the PNSF leadership in the
South and Amal, the Palestinian figh-
ters had to withdraw from the posts
they had taken within one week.
However, Amal was not satisfied.
These latest attacks provided Amal
with an excuse to open fire on Rashi-
diya again. One civilian was injured.
Moreover, the ceasefire agreement gave
Amal time to mobilize its forces in
preparation to attack, in order to res-
tore its posts. Amal distributed leaflets
calling upon the Lebanese masses to
fight on its side. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 20
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