Since President Mahmoud Abbas’ last visit to Lebanon, the pressure on Fatih movement by Lebanese officials to confront militias in Ain el Helwe camp has been mounting. President Abbas has always wanted the Lebanese government to go a step further towards a lasting solution through assuming control of these camps and ending the spread of arms inside. Abbas considers that being the appropriate solution seeing as though all Lebanese parties agree (while they disagree on most other topics) on rejecting the use of these weapons in the fight against Israel, and thus their only remaining use is internal conflict.
For the past three days the battle of Ain el Helwe has successfully implicated the Palestinians in an internal military conflict. Inhabitants of the camp and others are troubled by these events and are dreading a possibility of further displacement. The struggle may end soon, or it may linger on. However, in either case, what we must ask ourselves is what comes next? The total destruction of the camp and the displacement of its people are one possibility and clearly the worst of all. The second is the continuation of the fights indefinitely, and the third possibility is the conclusion of the altercation in favor of Fatih, Especially that Islamic forces have distanced themselves from their delinquent Bilal Bader, as the battle has been deemed an altercation between Fatih and Bilal Bader and his group.
