Lebanon Palestinians scrap border march

June 04, 2011
By Mohammed Zaatari

KFAR KILA, Lebanon: Palestinian officials announced Friday the cancellation of a mass march to the Blue Line following a refusal by the Lebanese Army to allow Sunday’s planned demonstration along the southern border.

The authorities’ decision to turn the area next to the Blue Line into a “closed military zone” prompted organizers to postpone Lebanon’s next large-scale pro-Palestinian protest, party officials said.

“There won’t be anything for Sunday. There won’t be a protest march Sunday,” Yasser Azzam, a Hamas official and organizer of the march, told The Daily Star.

Azzam said the decision had been made by the “preparatory committee of the return [to Palestine] march” after it received word that the army wanted to avoid a repeat of the May 15 Nakba march, which saw Israeli forces kill 11 protesters and wound hundreds more at Maroun al-Ras, next to the Blue Line. “We have been informed by official Lebanese sides that the Lebanese Army has a desire to maintain peace in the south and keenness to avoid a repeat of Nakba Day. That is why the Lebanese Army declared the border area a ‘closed military zone,’” Azzam said.

“Palestinian refugees, who insist on the border as a protest site, have refused to select an alternative venue for the event,” he added.

It had been suggested that protesters might instead descend on Khiam, a small southern town which housed a notorious Israeli prison during the occupation of the south, although this now appears unlikely.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, whose mandate includes monitoring the cessation of hostilities along the Blue Line but who were not invited by the Lebanese Army to help prevent violence on May 15, said that it was ready to assist in keeping the peace during any future protest march.

“At this time we have no official confirmation about such a demonstration in our area of operations.

Moreover, any questions on security of public demonstrations should be addressed to [the Lebanese Army] as they have primacy on security and law and order matters,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star.

“We are in constant contact with [Lebanese Army] on this matter. They keep us informed and we welcome the steps taken by army to ensure peace and security in the area.”

Israel had stepped up its border patrols in anticipation of Sunday’s march and began harsh talk warning protesters against approaching the Blue Line a second time. Lebanon’s Army also beefed up security in the south ahead of the weekend.

“We always urge the parties to be very cautious in any activities along the Blue Line because of its sensitivity and we ask that they exercise utmost restraint in responding to any developments along the Blue Line and that they should use UNIFIL’s good offices to address any potentially escalatory situation,” Singh said.

The peacekeeping force has launched an investigation into last month’s deadly incident, the worst of its kind since the end of fighting in August 2006.

Both Hamas and Fatah representatives in Lebanon have vowed to continue protesting their right for return, including rallies Sunday inside refugee camps.

Abu Ramez Mustapha, PFLP-GC official in Lebanon, claimed that the march had been postponed for just one week and that the step to delay was taken for “merely Lebanese necessities.”

A senior Fatah official, Munir al-Maqdah, called for March 14 to lend its support to future protest marches.

“Let this group help us because we reject settling [Palestinians in Lebanon]. We don’t agree to live in the diaspora; the suffering of 63 years is enough.”

Maqdah added that demonstrators sought no confrontation with the Lebanese Army. – With additional reporting by Patrick Galey

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-04/Palestinians-scrap-march-after-Lebanese-Army-bans-border-protest.ashx.