Palestinian refugees return to streets as Lebanon camp clears weapons from public life
A partial disarmament agreement has calmed the Palestinian refugee camp of Mieh Mieh, where violent factional clashes displaced residents for months.
MIEH MIEH CAMP, Lebanon — It seemed clear that the people of the Mieh Mieh refugee camp had finally — however cautiously — reclaimed their own streets on the afternoon of May 24. Seven months since deadly clashes in the Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon, shopkeepers, families, elderly people and children have replaced the armed fighters who had forced many residents to evacuate the camp and seek shelter elsewhere.
“We spent months as refugees again,” university student Sarah Mawed told Al-Monitor. Lebanon’s camps have become semipermanent settlements over the years, but when Mawed and her family were forced to leave, the displacement made them double refugees.
“It was the scariest [time] of my life,” she said.
Bullet holes and commemorative portraits of fallen fighters line Mieh Mieh’s streets and remind residents of the conflict that erupted Oct. 15, when a dispute between members of the Fatah movement and the Hezbollah-affiliated Ansar Allah turned violent. The rival groups had clashed intermittently before, but this bout of fighting was the heaviest in years with five people killed and 26 wounded. An agreement to ease tensions was finally reached on Nov. 5 after mediation by Hezbollah and its allies.
