DAMASCUS (PIC)– Khaled Mishaal the head of Hamas’ political bureau has telephoned Lebanese president Emil Lahud on Tuesday over the tragedy in Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp urging him to give Palestinian parties in Lebanon a chance to settle the events there.
Mishaal during the telephone call highlighted Hamas’ concern of not meddling in the Lebanese internal affairs condemning targeting the Lebanese army; but at the same time he stressed that Palestinian civilians in the camp must be spared the fighting.
According to a statement issued by Hamas Movement and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC Lahud expressed understanding towards Mishaal’s concerns and assured him that matters will be dealt with in the right frame and that relief convoys have started entering into the camp.
In another telephone conversation with Nabih Berri the Lebanese parliament’s speaker Mishaal suggested the formation of a joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee with the aim to protect Palestinian civilians in the refugee camp and to resolve the crisis there.
For his part Osama Hamdan Hamas’ representative in Lebanon affirmed that the Movement was and still is holding continuous contacts with concerned Lebanese parties including the army leadership in a bid to contain the events and to enforce a ceasefire.
“We as Palestinian factions focus our meetings and contacts on the urgency to spare Palestinian civilians the ongoing fighting in Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp and we have also presented a number of suggestions to end the crisis” said Hamdan in a statement to the PIC.
Lebanese premier Fuad Seniora met with representatives of all Palestinian factions in Lebanon over the crisis but Hamdan refused to confirm whether or not the discussions were fruitful saying it was premature to judge the talks with Seniora; but he asserted “at the end we hope everything will be resolved amicably”.
Furthermore Hamas Movement urged the Lebanese government and army to prioritize political solutions over the military ones highlighting that a military solution to the crisis could be catastrophic and would jeopardize lives of innocent refugees.
Moreover the Movement underscored that the ongoing clashes in the camp shouldn’t in any way spoil the brotherly Palestinian-Lebanese relationship or affect the presence of the Palestinian refugees on the Lebanese soil.
However the Movement warned that the Palestinian factions’ condemnation of targeting the legitimate national Lebanese army mustn’t be taken by any party as a cover to pursue the killing in the camp.
“It is indeed unacceptable to let innocent civilians pay for problems they have nothing to do with” Hamas further asserted in the statement.
