Lebanese rejection to Australia's decision to receive 200 of the SLA members

The decision of the Australian government to receive 200 of members of the former " South Lebanese Army" (SLA) has provoked disorder among the Lebanese community because this militia has been accused of committing "crimes and torture acts when it worked under Israeli authority during the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon."

Officials at the Lebanese community in Australia considered the arrival of such number of partisans for Israel will raise differences inside the community.

On the other hand, the Australian minister of migration Philip Radoc said that his decision implies " dangers of bringing war criminals to Australia." He added " it is naive to ask for guarantees that any person comes from a 'Party' area did not commit crimes" A spokesman for the Australian ministry of migration said that files of persons who have relatives living in Australia will be studied.

He explained that all the files will undergo deep investigations on the character of each person but he at the same time admitted that " guaranteeing that those refugees have not been involved in acts contrary to human rights will not be possible."