Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) called for immediately ending the armed clashes in Ain Al-Hilwa camp in Sidon, which left 11 killed, 40 injured, and displaced more than two thousand people.
AOHR UK warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the camp due to the ongoing clashes and the use of heavy weapons that would result in more losses of lives, displacement of families, and destruction of homes and public facilities.
AOHR UK stressed that the Palestinians who settled there, under the supervision of the Red Cross Committee after the Nakba in 1948, believed they would return back to their homeland within days. However, the situation escalated and they had to stay in the camp for seven decades, during which several clashes took place and many were wounded, entire camps were destroyed, and they were unable to return home until today.
The organisation emphasised that in addition to the human and material losses suffered by the Palestinians over those years, successive Lebanese governments systematically denied refugees basic rights such as freedom of movement, education, health, property ownership.
After 70 years of displacement in the diaspora camps, Palestinians are still longing to return and settle in their homelands, rather than being killed and displaced several times.
AOHR UK called on all civil forces in Lebanon to ensure ceasefire and a safe return of all displaced families to their homes. It also emphasised the need to form an investigating committee on these clashes and to bring those responsible to justice, while ensuring that violence in resolving disputes in the future is not permitted.
