Palestinian resistance movements Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have called for an end to fatal clashes at a refugee camp in Lebanon that have pitted Palestinian factions against each other, saying the fighting only serves Israel’s interests.
Palestinian delegations, led by Islamic Jihad Secretary General Ziad al-Nakhala and deputy head of Hamas’ Political Bureau Mousa Abu Marzook, met on Thursday, after a week of confrontations in the Ain al-Hilweh camp in southern Lebanon killed a total of 15 Palestinians and injured 150 others.
“The ongoing clashes are against the will of the Palestinian nation and only serve the Zionist enemy and its suspicious projects to target Palestinian camps with the aim of consigning the refugees’ issue to oblivion and displacing more Palestinians,” they said.
The Gaza-based resistance groups also warned that the continuation of the clashes would endanger Lebanon’s security and damage the Palestinian cause and national interests.
They also urged the Palestinian factions to stop their deadly fighting, stressing that the agents of the violence should be arrested and handed over to Lebanese authorities.
They further called on resistance fighters to unmask the perpetrators of the clashes and unite the Palestinians in the face of the Zionist enemy.
Ain al-Hilweh, situated in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, is home to more than 54,000 registered refugees and thousands of Palestinians who joined them in recent years from Syria.
The camp, Lebanon’s largest, has been rocked by several rounds of clashes between Palestinian factions since late July.
The first round left more than a dozen people dead, including Abu Ashraf al-Armouchi, a senior commander with the Fatah party who was in charge of security inside Ain al-Hilweh.
Fighting resumed on September 7 after a month-long ceasefire.
