Lebanon's second largest city Tripoli has been the focus of an unexpected escalation of factional clashes in the last few days. In the worst violence since the end of the 1976-1990 civil war, Lebanon's army have fought radical Palestinian off-shoot Fatah Al-Islam. In the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp north of Tripoli, the militant group with supposed ties to Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syrian intelligence amongst others, has opened new fissures in Lebanon's multi-confessional matrix. Tripoli is one of the most northerly fringes of the Palestinian diaspora, and has particular resonance for Lebanese Palestinians. PLO leader Yasser Arafat withstood an Israeli onslaught during the siege of Tripoli in December 1983 before an exodus to Tunis, enhancing his legendary status amongst the Palestinian people. Arafat would survive and Israel's primary objective to eradicate the PLO had failed, although their presence ended in Lebanon. PLO-Fatah absence from the occupied territories allowed Islamists to flourish - Hamas played a key role in the 1987 intifada - creating the factional conflict now seen in Gaza.
Although we should be careful about viewing 1980s Palestinian resistance through rose tinted shades. There is a contrast to the radicalism of today that selfishly hinders their nation's progress, with the more noble resistance of Fatah - although they were accurately described as terrorists at the time. Hamas are creating problems but their popular mandate is thin, only 44% of voters chose them in the 2006 election with turn out under a quarter of the total Palestinian population. And now in 2007, as rockets fire at Sderot, splinter groups battle in the north and Hezbollah wait and re-arm, another summer of war seems highly probable once again.
Read on here in this excellent article: http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-debate_97/report_gaza_4632.jsp
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