When Hamas politburo member Saleh al-Arouri was buried Thursday evening in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon, Palestinians from across the country gathered to say goodbye.
Al-Arouri was killed during a drone strike on a neighborhood in Beirut, stronghold of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas. The Hamas leader had been in Lebanon since 2015 – one of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the country.
Successive waves of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have led to a stateless population of around 270,000 people, living in 12 camps across the country.
It began with the Nakba of 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from Palestine upon the creation of Israel, and has continued since, as resistance leaders and refugees sought shelter from Israeli attacks .
But even as Lebanon welcomed these refugees, they faced systemic discrimination – and the Palestinian community and its leaders lived under constant threat of Israeli attacks.
Who governs the Palestinian camps?
Since 1969, Lebanese security forces have not been allowed to enter the camps, with security provided by several Palestinian armed factions.
At times, these armed groups have clashed with each other, competing for influence, control and support from the Palestinian community.
Refugee camps remain recruiting grounds for Palestinian armed factions: in early December, Hamas launched an appeal to camp residents to join the group.
How many refugees are there?
Accurate population figures are difficult to obtain, with the 2017 Lebanese census reporting around 170,000 refugees residing in Lebanese camps, while UNRWA – the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees – reports that more than 270,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon.
But no fewer than 475,000 Palestinians are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon.
What are the conditions ?
Overpopulation, poverty and lack of jobs characterize the camps.
Most Palestinians are unable to obtain the identity cards needed to access most jobs or social services. Instead, as Lebanon seeks to preserve its fragile sectarian balance, it must rely on UNRWA to provide many of the necessities of daily life.
How old are these camps?
Palestinians arrived in significant numbers in Lebanon in 1948, after the creation of Israel.
The initial numbers have since been bolstered by other arrivals following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which led to Israel occupying new swathes of Palestinian territory. More recently, these are those who fled the fighting in Syria.
Have they always served as bases for Palestinian armed groups?
By the late 1960s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was fighting Israel on several fronts. It operated mainly in Jordan, where around two million refugees were registered, and in Lebanon, where poor conditions, non-existent infrastructure and substandard housing contributed to spreading a sense of injustice.
What was the influence of the PLO in Lebanon?
Following a series of clashes between the Lebanese army and heavily armed Palestinian militias in 1968 and 1969, the Lebanese army signed an agreement known as the Cairo Accord.
Although the details were carefully guarded, the agreement granted the Palestinians autonomy over the administration of the camps as well as the right to continue the armed struggle from Lebanon.
Shortly after the agreement was signed, the PLO was expelled from Jordan, where it had helped organize a revolt against the king, to the Lebanese camps where it enjoyed greater freedom of action.
Throughout the 1970s, leaders of the PLO and its Lebanon-based factions were repeatedly targeted by Israeli assassination attempts.
How far did his influence reach?
In 1982, the organization was expelled from Lebanon to Tunisia, following its participation in the Lebanese civil war.
However, during its time in Lebanon, the group had taken advantage of discontent within the refugee camps to establish significant control over southern Lebanon, including founding its own police force, before the region was occupied by Israel. a few years after the departure of the PLO.
How does this heritage manifest itself today?
Various groups now vie for control of the camps and have a political and military presence in Lebanon.
Al-Arouri was a key Hamas interlocutor with Hezbollah and other allied armed groups. At least two other senior Hamas military officials were killed along with him in the January 2 attack: Azzam al-Aqra, one of the main commanders of the Qassam Brigades – Hamas’ armed unit – outside Gaza; and Samir Fendi, the commander of the Qassam Brigades in southern Lebanon.
