From: UPI
Subject: Army ordered to push back Palestinian deportees
Reply-To: ayman@eecs.umich.edu
Organization: United Press International
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 11:02:57 GMT
X-Note: This article was automatically cross-posted to soc.culture.lebanon

[ Article cross-posted without permission ]
	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- The Lebanese Army on Monday began to force
some 415 Palestinian deportees back inside the border area in southern
Lebanon under the control of Israeli forces, a Lebanese Army source
said.
	``The Army command has informed the deportees of the need to return
from where they came,'' the source said.
	He said Lebanese soldiers and policemen ``are pushing them back to
the passageway of Zimrayya towards the Israeli occupied security zone.''
	A source said the Army move was aimed at preventing 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 source said orders were also given to prevent ``the passage of
all humanitarian organizations, including the Red Cross and all
assistance and aid towards the region'' where the deportees had
established their camp.
	Witnesses at the Marj Al Zouhour passageway where the deportees have
been stranded said the Lebanese Army ordered the deportees to leave
their tents and walk towards the Zimrayya gate.
	The deportees lined up on the road and began their walk again to the
Israeli-controlled area, the witness said. The Lebanese Army soldiers
closed off all crossing points leading to the deportees' camp, they
said.
	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.
	A bulldozer that had begun diggin makeshift toilets and kitchens was
removed, the witnesses said. The Lebanese troops ordered the relief
workers out of the camp and return back to their bases. The troops also
refused the delivery of food into the camp.
	``Only reporters and cameramen had the permission to enter the camp,''
the source said.
	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,'' Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul said. He added the
world cannot stand idle ``and keep on watching their ordeal.''
	Dalloul also reaffirmed Sunday that his government would deny entry
to the refugees.
	Deputy Mohammed Kabbani warned that the Lebanese authorities will
never allow the Palestinians into ``our territories even if they have to
resort to force.''
	Former Prime Minister Amin Al Hafez said he feared the Israeli
deportations ``would be a prelude for settling Palestinians in Lebanon.''
	Palestinians spent Sunday demonstrating in protest of Israel's
expulsion of the activists from the fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic
Jihad organizations.
	About 200 Palestinian students gathered at the International
Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in the port city of Sidon, 24
miles south of Beirut, and handed ICRC officials a memorandum urging U.
N. Secretary-General Butros Butros-Ghali to implement a resolution
demanding the return of the deportees to the Israeli-occupied West Bank
and Gaza Strip.
	For the 415 deportees, Sunday marked their third night in the open
between the Marj Al Zouhour manned by the Lebanese Army and the Israeli-
controlled Zimrayya gate, which was marked by flares and bursts fired by
the Israelis that lighted the sky over their camp.
	Early Sunday, Israeli artillery bombarded hills overlooking the camp
in an attempt to force the deportees to move further north toward the
Lebanese checkpoint.
	``We are determined to return to our land,'' said the deportees'
spokesman, Abdel Aziz Rantissi. ``We are used to Israeli terrorist and
savage actions but this time we will expose them before the whole world.
''
	At dawn, the deportees lined up to pray and later decided to name the
camp ``Al Qods-The return.''

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