Lebanon is home to 400,000 Palestinians, who are packed into impoverished camps that have become fertile ground for groups such as Fatah Islam, despite the fact most mainstream Palestinians oppose them.
You wonder why?
Since 1948 these camps have been isolated and forgotten.
A cauldron has been brewing for so very long. Yet, Lebanon at one time considered the "Switzerland of the Middle East", and a parliamentary, democratic republic, which implements a special system known as confessionalism, (meant to distribute power among different sects and religions), has never given Palestinians citizenship.
So now, once again tensions flare.
Tensions have been high in Lebanon since fighting broke out May 20 between the army and
Fatah Islam militants in the northern Nahr el-Bared refugee camp. There also have been clashes at the Ein el-Hilweh camp in the south and several bombings in the Beirut area, sparking fears of spreading chaos.
The soldier was shot by Fatah Islam snipers in the Nahr el-Bared camp, security officials said. Earlier, the al-Qaida-inspired militants attacked an armored personnel carrier, wounding three soldiers, and the army retaliated by firing artillery, tanks and machine guns.
http://news.yahoo.com/...
Mutable generations have now had to live in poverty and and disenfranchisement, as the world has ignored them.
This economic warfare is carried out through specific laws and regulations which attack Palestinian refugees' ability to survive. They are forbidden from owning property, working in over 70 professions receiving proper health care, and moving and traveling freely. They do not hold Lebanese citizenship, which gives them little influence over the political decisions of the country in which the majority of them have lived for over 50 years. Most Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in poverty stricken, war destroyed camps as non- citizens with the struggle for the right of return to Palestine the only light shining in an otherwise dark future.
Essentially there has been a war against the Palestinians in Lebanon since their arrival in after the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967. Throughout the Lebanese civil war the refugee camps became subject to countless military attacks from Israeli forces and Lebanese right-wing militias. Until the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Beirut had become the political and military headquarters of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). This created a political situation where the refugees of the camps became deeply and directly involved in defining the broader Palestinian struggle for liberation.
snip
During the civil-war many right-wing Lebanese political movements tried to crush Palestinian and Lebanese popular movements fighting for the basic rights of Palestinians in Lebanon and for the right of return. Social movements which fight for the rights of Palestinians in Lebanon continue today, as the situation of life within the refugee camps has improved little since the end of the civil war. Elements of the Lebanese establishment continue to attack the rights of Palestinians and those movements which fight for their rights. The continued attacks on the rights of Palestinians in Lebanon must be seen in this historical context.
http://www.zmag.org/...
Said to be a beautiful country, but now we know it's dark secret.
Will it recover?
The refugee camps are exploding and it still has not recovered from last summer's bombardment.
Areas bombed by Israel last summer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
And today hundreds of thousands of American made cluster bombs kill people weekly and stop farmers from planting and harvesting. What exactly was accomplished? We should be worring less about one assassination, and more about 400,000 people left to suffered.
Photo tour of Lebanon:
http://www.trekearth.com/...