Guest post by DaveM
On the 15th June Lebanese news stations reported a clash in Nahr al Bared between Palestinians and the Lebanese army which left a Palestinian dead and seven wounded.
“This isn’t a battle from the Nahr al Bared battles which took place in May 2007, but it’s footage of a dispute which took place between the Lebanese army and Palestinians inside the camp, during which a Palestinian from the Ahl Ghanoumi (Ghanoumi family?) was killed and seven others injured.
“The clash took place because an army checkpoint apprehended a Palestinian on a moped because he didn’t have any identification papers.
“This incensed the residents of Nahr al Bared, who gathered at the camp’s entrance and pelted the checkpoint with stones and set fire to tires at the camp’s main road demanding the release of the detainee, which caused the army to respond by shooting in the air to disperse them.
“While residents of the neighbouring camp of Beddawi resorted to blocking the roads and burning tires in protest, the Palestinian factions inside the Nahr al Bared camp were working towards keeping an eye on the issue and calming the situation down in order to prevent a deterioration of the security situation.”
The Lebanese newspaper Daily Star reported:
One person was killed Friday near the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, after a violent standoff between locals and the Lebanese Army. Security sources said residents gathered after the Army detained a young man riding a motorcycle at a checkpoint for not carrying personal identification papers. The man’s wife and a number of locals gathered in protest, which escalated into burning tires and pelting soldiers with rocks. Security sources said Army personnel fired back, killing a man named Ahmad Qassem and wounding four others. Residents of the nearby camp of Beddawi also staged a protest over the incident, blocking an internal road with burning tires.
The Associated Press and Reuters also picked up on the story.
There doesn’t seem to be any outrage from the Palestinian solidarity activists. No calls for urgent action. No marches planned for outside the embassy of the “Phoenician Entity” in London.
You either stand in solidarity with Palestinians or you don’t. As of yet the response seems to be silence.
I wonder why that is.
