Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 8)

غرض

عنوان

Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 8)

المحتوى

Rebuilding the Camps
The camp war left the bulk of the
Palestinian population in Beirut living in
shelters or the public buildings, such as
schools, where they had sought shelter.
Seventy per cent of the houses in Sabra
and Shatila were destroyed, as was the
main waterline to these camps and Bourj
al Barajneh. It took bulldozers over forty
days to remove the debris. 1650 cubic
meters of destroyed material was
removed from Bourj, and 4300 cubic
meters from the area of Sabra’s hospital.
This massive destruction stands as con-
crete proof that the aim of this war was to
eliminate the camps altogether.
As if to reinforce this, Beirut munici-
pal authorities announced in late July
that the city would be beautified by
removal of the destruction. According to
them, the destroyed houses should not
be rebuilt but the space allotted to major
roads as part of modernizing Beirut.
Concerning the joint committee estab-
lished to oversee implementation of the
Damascus agreement, Beirut Mayor
Shafik Sardouk stated that its function
was only to remove the destruction, not
to rebuild. Both the Palestine National
Salvation Front and Syria immediately
responded that the Damascus agree-
ment (article 4) insured the return of the
camp population to their homes, and
rebuilding them. Also, a group of
engineers (Syrian, Lebanese and Pales-
tinian, mostly volunteers) assessed the
damage in order to make a plan for
rebuilding.
There are a series of obstacles to
rebuilding the tamps. One is continua-
tion of the tense situation surrounding
the camps, and instances of the Amal
movement harassing the residents. In
addition, Amal and the Lebanese Army's
6th Brigade have refused any proposals
for building temporary housing to meet
the needs of the most urgent cases.
Another obstacle is __ financial.
Rebuilding costs have been estimated
at no less than 300 million Lebanese
pounds. The joint committee has so far
only received $1 million from Libya and
50,000 tons of cement from Syria. The
majority of Arab regimes have yet to
contribute despite their wailing over the
Palestinian blood shed in the camp war.
Also the rightist PLO leadership cried
out during this war, but has yet to offer
concrete aid, despite its extensive
8
funds.
The PNSF has assumed basic
responsibility for rebuilding. It has out-
lined an initial plan, starting with the
repair of 500 houses in Shatila and 250
in Bourj al Barajneh, to relieve the most
urgent cases. By the 1st of August, an
on-the-site brick factory had begun pro-
duction, and reconstruction is now
underway. The Salvation Front will
make every effort to have this task com-
pleted before the winter cold and rain
sets in.
: All Facts to the Masses
Press Release
July 24, 1985
A responsible source in the PFLP
stated:
Some Arab media published a)
news item that Dr. George Habash,
General Secretary of the PFLP, speak-
ing in Damascus to militants liberated
from the Zionist prisons, said that:
«Arafat's groups in Beirut are responsi-
ble for the recent war ofthe camps.» __
_ PFLP assures that this news is)
totally baseless. Dr. Habash confirmed’
in his speech the analysis which the
.PFLP has given of that war and the aims
of the forces that instigated it. The basic
aims were removing the Palestinian
kdashinkov and ending the Palestinian.
‘national role in Lebanon.
The PFLP’s position which is well
known to ail our masses and the Arab
nation, became an integral part of the
eenadied of the bloody war, and thus
vod oe @ omitted or distorted by any,
his statement oy saying that PFLP hed
not wanted to reopen the records of that
difficult period, but the publication of this
erroneous news in the Arab media
forced us to clarify the facts, acting on
the slogan to which we have been com-
mitted since our foundation: All facts te to
Stop All Harassment
In late July, Comrade Abu Tayeb,
member of the PFLP’s Politbureau,
made a statement concerning violations
of the letter and spirit of the June 17th
accord signed in Damascus. His intent
was to find a solution for these problems
in order to restore confidence among the
signing parties.
1. The situation of siege continues
around the camps of Shatila anc four) al
Barajneh, as the Amal forces and 6th
Brigade have not withdrawn from their
positions around the camps as was
stated in the accord.
2.The Amal movement is. still
arresting young Palestinian men in
Beirut and South Lebanon. These
Palestinians have yet to be released.
3. In the last few days, Amal forces
have resumed their policy of harassing
and humiliating Palestinians collec-
tively, as when they surrounded Al Bas
camp near Sour. Amal forces entered
the camp in the night, frightening the
women and the children, and carrying
out collective punishment on the pretext
that one of their positions was fired on
from an unknown source.
4. Amal is erecting checkpoints to
inspect Palestinians on the only two
roads which join the Bekaa with North
Lebanon.
Comrade Abu Tayeb concluded by
warning of the dangers of the political
and informational campaign now focus-
ing on the situation in Saida. He pointed
out that such a campaign contributes to
the atmosphere of hate and fear that
makes possible an explosion of the sec-
urity situation there. @

هو جزء من

Democratic Palestine : 10

تاريخ

أغسطس ١٩٨٥

المنشئ

الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين

مجموعات العناصر

Generated Pages Set

Democratic Palestine

PLO Research Center: Facts and Figures