Continued controversy over Palestinian groups weapons in Lebanon

At a time when the Lebanese prime minister Fouad Sinioura is expected to meet a delegation representing the Palestinian groups in order to discuss the presence of weapons in camps, Sinioura on Friday rejected that the Palestinian keep their weapons in Lebanon outside their camps, expressing his hope to solve this matter with the Palestinian refugees by means of dialogue.

Sinioura said in an interview broadcast by the Lebanese LBC satellite TV on late Friday evening "we have to protect the Palestinians and ensure the proper atmosphere for them regarding humanitarian and living aspects and ensuring work opportunities so as to be able to return back to their origin homeland."

The Lebanese prime minister also called on Syria to use its relations with the Palestinian organizations for maintaining self- control. He commended the position taken by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who notified him in a telephone call that the Palestinian authority is against "the existence of Palestinian guns outside the camps."

The Druz leader and Lebanese parliamentarian Walid Junblat also confirmed his rejection of the existence of the Palestinian weapon outside the camps and his support for dialogue with the Palestinian groups to this end. In a telephone intervention in the same program, Junblat stressed the need of protecting the Palestinians and called for the Lebanese authority to ensure them no less than a minimum of civilian rights.