It's Still About the Palestinian Question

It may not be so, but the fact that another high intensity war has broken out in Lebanon almost a year after the one that broke out between Hezbollah and Israel last summer is sufficient cause to infer that the present conflict between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam fighters in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, near the Lebanese port city of Tripoli might be the continuation of last summer’s war this time by proxy. Logic for this inference is made stronger when one factors the speed with which weapons and other military supplies have been arranged for and flown from the US and some Arab sources to the Lebanese army in the equation. There could be other indicators that support this inference.

However, what I think is the main issue at play here is that both violent flare-ups derive from the unresolved Palestinian question. Some people, including elements in the coalition government in Lebanon will dispute that there’s a link between the current flare-up involving Islam al-Fatah and the Lebanese army, and the Palestinian question. Such elements will back their argument up by saying that Islam al-Fatah is composed of fighters from the Arab world including Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Syria. In fact, authorities in Lebanon have already asserted that Islam al-Fatah is Syria’s proxy, even though Syria has denied having anything to do with the group.

The leader of Islam al-Fatah is a Palestinian, even though the group does not seem to have popular support amongst Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who number an estimated 400,000. Islam al-Fatah, which even some elements in the Lebanese authorities acknowledge lacks links to al-Qaeda could not have settled so easily in Lebanon if there were no Palestinian refugee camps. The circumstances that created the camps in the first instance, and the agreement between Lebanon and other Arabs that prohibits the Lebanese army from entering the Palestinian refugee camps are some of the variables that aid and abet the likes of the current flare-up. Islam al-Fatah will have no sanctuary if there no refugee camps. Apart from 33 Lebanese soldiers, 27 Islam al-Fatah militants, 18 Palestinian civilians are included in the number of lives lost so far in the fight.

Not withstanding how the current flare-up, which elements in the Lebanese coalition government, the Hezbollah, and other stakeholders in the area agree would not require a military solution, is resolved, it will not be the last. Rushing military supplies to the Lebanese army is therefore misplaced. The more logical option will be to fashion out a just resolution of the Palestinian question. That resolution which could have been realized the day before yesterday will save the world the continuing bloodshed in that part of the world.