BEDDAWI REFUGEE CAMP, LEBANON // Despite threats by the Lebanese military and intelligence authorities of a military operation to clear the Beddawi refugee camp of Islamic militants thought to be responsible for a series of recent attacks in Lebanon and Syria, the Palestinian residents are not particularly worried. "The army isn't coming here," said Abu Mohammed, who works for Fatah's intelligence arm to secure the camp and be a liaison with the Lebanese authorities. "Because we don't have any terrorists in Beddawi, and if we did, we'd hand them over immediately if [the Lebanese] ask for them." After a series of attacks on Syrian border posts, two bombs targeting the Lebanese army in nearby Tripoli and a devastating car bomb attack in Damascus that both Lebanese and Syrian authorities suspect are the work of Lebanese Sunni extremists, tensions in northern Lebanon have continued to rise. The Syrians have moved almost 10,000 men into position along the border and requested the right to militarily intervene in the Tripoli area as part of its "war on terrorism" operations - although French diplomats apparently denied the request, which also drew a stiff rebuke from the US government. The Lebanese army has also greatly increased its presence, both as a response to the bombings and to maintain a fragile ceasefire between Sunnis and ethnic Syrians in Tripoli, who spent much of the summer engaged in street battles that killed more than 20 people. Over the weekend, Lebanese intelligence officials warned that a military operation against Beddawi was under consideration if the militants accused of the attacks were found to be taking refuge in the camp, where tradition leaves the Palestinians in control of security. The threat immediately raised the spectre of last summer's prolonged and bloody siege of the neighbouring Nahr al Bared camp by the Lebanese army as it rooted out members of a shadowy militant group, Fatah al Islam, with ideological ties to al Qa'eda and Iraqi militants. That battle killed hundreds and destroyed virtually the entire camp, which sent more than 20,000 refugees into Beddawi, where thousands still remain. "All Palestinian people remember Nahr al Bared," Abu Mohammed said. "If a terrorist was in this camp, not a single person would help them because we cannot afford to come under attack and lose our homes again. "This is a small camp [of about 20,000 people], and everyone here is related or knows each other. If there were strangers here or foreign Salafis, everyone in the camp would immediately know. We would not protect these people." But Abu Mohammed admitted that some residents did fight alongside Fatah al Islam in the siege and that the individuals, because they are known to the intelligence service of Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian movement, are closely monitored. "Of course we have some people here who are very religious and fought in Nahr al Bared," he said. "But we know them all. We watch them and have told them: 'We know who you are; do not cause us any more problems.' And they do not, they are very co-operative because no one wants to lose even more than we lost last year." Ahmad Addoura, a leader with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, runs a medical clinic in the camp, which sat completely empty on a quiet Sunday afternoon. He said the camp has heard the rumours about a military operation but that no one seems worried. "We don't have any of these people anymore," he said. "I stayed in Nahr al Bared for the entire siege treating the wounded and homeless. I know who these people are, and they are not in the camp anymore. And when they say al Qa'eda is coming here, we laugh. Where are they? We would notice Yemeni jihadists here because we remember what they did in our other camp." The streets of Beddawi appear to confirm the men's assertions: on this day the camp was almost tranquil, with families shopping and children playing football in the streets. The absence of armed men in the camp was particularly striking considering most of Lebanon's refugee camps tend to be littered with armed militants openly "patrolling" and drinking coffee. In Beddawi, however, not a single gun was seen in public. "We don't need weapons," Abu Mohammed said, as the sounds of a wedding party come down the street near his shop. He stuck his head outside and laughed. "See, it's my cousin getting married. Would we be holding a wedding on the street if we thought there would be a war with the army?" @Email:mprothero@thenational.ae
