From: UPI
Subject: Lebanon ousts Palestinians from camp; Israelis said to fire on them
Reply-To: ayman@eecs.umich.edu
Organization: United Press International
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 20:10:13 GMT
X-Note: This article was automatically cross-posted to soc.culture.lebanon

[ Article cross-posted without permission ]
	MARJ AL ZOUHOUR, Lebanon (UPI) -- Lebanon forced some 400 Palestinian
deportees out of their makeshift camp Monday, and witnesses and sources
said forces at an Israeli checkpoint fired toward the group as it
approached. Two casualties were reported.
	Witnesses said the Lebanese army ordered the deportees to leave their
camp situated between the Lebanese-controlled Marj Al Zouhour and the
Zimraya Gate manned by Israeli troops and their proxy South Lebanon Army
at the northern border of Israel's self-declared security zone in
southern Lebanon.
	The deportees left their tents, lined up on the road and began the
one-mile walk toward the Zimraya Gate where they were met by artillery
and machine-gun fire from the Israeli checkpoint, the witnesses said.
Some 15 shells crashed on the road, the witnesses said.
	There was an unspecified number of casualties reported by witnesses
and confirmed by the Israeli government in Jerusalem. Lebanese forces in
the area were put on full alert, and Lebanese army ambulances and other
Lebanese humanitarian aid were rushed to the Marj Al Zouhour, the
witnesses said.
	Israeli at first denied that any live ammunition had been fired at
the Palestinians, but later government spokesman Uri Dromi conceded that
the SLA had fired mortar rounds at them after using tear gas.
	``There was some shooting. It was very brief,'' said spokesman Uri
Dromi. ``We are trying to hold them (SLA troops) back, but of course
there's only so much we can do.''
	Reports from Lebanon monitored by state-run Israel Radio said two of
the deportees were wounded by 120mm shells fired by the SLA. One of the
injured was taken to a hospital and the other was treated at the scene.
This figure was confirmed by Bernard Pferfferle, head of the
International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon.
	Israeli Gen. Danny Yatom said he could not detail operational plans,
``but we will take all steps available to us to prevent the expelled
from crossing into the security zone.''
	Responding to the incident, the Beirut representative of the
Palestine Liberation Organization, Shafik al-Hout, said the PLO had
called for an urgent meeting by Dec. 25 of the foreign ministers of Arab
states involved in the Middle East peace talks to decide whether to
continue participation.
	After the Palestinians left the camp, the Lebanese army sealed off
the area to prevent their return. A Lebanese army source said the Beirut
government was trying to prevent an ``indefinite stay'' of the
deportees. ``We cannot bear them in this area for a long time,'' the
source said. ``We fear that their stay would become definite.''
	The Lebanese soldiers also prevented all relief workers from the Red
Cross and the United Nations Relief Workers and Aid for Palestinians
from approaching and contacting the deportees as they began their march
back toward the Israeli border.
	The army also halted all delivery of food into the area, and a
bulldozer that had begun digging makeshift latrines and kitchens was
removed, the witnesses said. ``Only reporters and cameramen had the
permission to enter the camp,'' the source said.
	Late Monday, a Lebanese army source said only the ICRC would be
allowed to resume sending relief aid to the deportees. But Pferfferle of
the ICRC said organization would not be able to resume opertions there 
``due to the security measures.''
	Lebanese Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul said visitors were kept from
the makeshift camp only because ``the area has always been a target of
Israeli fire.'' And he denied giving orders to prevent the entry of
relief aid to the deportees. ``It is impossible that we take such a
decision,'' he said.
	The Palestinians were deported late Thursday from the Israeli-
occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Handcuffed, blindfolded
and transported in buses and flatbed trucks, they arrived early Friday
at a desolate valley just north of the northern border of the Israel's
9-mile-wide security zone.
	Lebanon refused to admit the deportees, who were unceremoniously
dropped at the site in a driving rain. They were protected from the
elements only by rain coats, but humanitarian organizations quickly set
up a tent city for them.
	The move to return the deportees came after the Lebanese government
vowed again Sunday not to allow the Palestinians into the country. ``In
that way, they will remain a problem in the face of the Israelis and not
for us,'' Dalloul said. He added the world cannot stand idle ``and keep
on watching their ordeal.''

Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon