Former Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Issam Fares considered that we in Lebanon fail to face our problems and deal straightforwardly with our concerns, deeming that we attempt to avoid approaching our difficulties with the necessary courage.

He wondered, ‘What does it mean to say we oppose the Palestinian weapons outside the Palestinian camps? Why are the Palestinian weapons inside the camps as long as they are not used against the Israeli enemy? Against who are they used?’.

Fares also asked, ‘What is the benefit of keeping the arms unless it aims at creating unrest and upheaval on the Lebanese scene and keep it open to the inter-Palestinian and Arab-Arab paradoxes?’. ‘Scores of Palestinian officials had already announced that the weapons in the Palestinian camps are at the disposal of the Lebanese authority’, he said, ‘and we applauded these declarations. Why isn’t a joint committee that instigates a serious and open dialogue formed to tackle this issue?’’.

Fares went on saying, ‘The Palestinian brethren should turn over a new leaf in the relationship with Lebanon based on mutual respect, put behind the black days this relationship had experienced, and establish a relationship based on respecting Lebanon’s right to enjoy territorial sovereignty on all its soil. The Government should also deal with this issue with the highest degree of responsibility fearing any complication or escalation that might have serious and dire consequences. Moreover, appropriate solutions should be found to the vital and humanitarian circumstances under which live the residents of the Palestinian camps.

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