Palestinian factions on Thursday began turning over weapons from a refugee camp near Beirut to the Lebanese army, the first step in a plan announced three months ago to disarm the camps.
One pickup left the camp loaded with light weapons packed in bags. The butts of machine guns could be seen protruding from some of the sacks.
It remains unclear whether all factions will abide by the decision.
Representatives of Hamas and the allied Islamic Jihad did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Hamas sent a statement signed by "the Palestinian Factions in Lebanon” that called Thursday’s handover of weapons "an internal organizational matter within the Fatah movement” that "has no connection, near or far, to the issue of Palestinian weapons in the camps.”
It added, "Our weapons have always been and will always be linked to the right of return and the just Palestinian cause and will remain so as long as the occupation remains on Palestinian soil.”
The decision to remove weapons from the camps was announced in May during a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Lebanon, during which he and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced that arms would be consolidated under the authority of the Lebanese government.
The step of removing weapons from the camps was seen as a precursor to the much more difficult step of disarming the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which last year fought a bruising war with Israel that ended in a cease-fire in November. The group has been under domestic and international pressure since then to give up its remaining arsenal, which it has so far refused to do.
Implementation of the plan for the Palestinian camps was delayed amid disagreements among and within the various Palestinian factions operating in Lebanon, which include Abbas’ Fatah movement, the rival Hamas group and a range of other groups, over the mechanism for handing over the weapons.
Ramez Dimashkieh, head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government body that serves as an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials, said in a statement that the handover of weapons Thursday at the Burj al-Barajneh camp south of Beirut "will be the first step, with further batches to be delivered in the coming weeks from Burj al-Barajneh camp and the rest of the camps,” the statement said.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesperson for Abbas, said in a statement that weapons were also handed over Thursday at al-Bass camp in southern Lebanon and would continue in other camps in implementation of the agreement between Abbas and the Lebanese government.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack hailed steps to begin disarming groups operating in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Barrack congratulated the government and the Palestinian Fatah movement on their "agreement on voluntary disarmament in Beirut camps, a great accomplishment as a result of the bold action recently taken by the Lebanese Council of Ministers. A historic step toward unity and stability, showing true commitment to peace and cooperation."
Badih al-Habet, a spokesperson for Fatah in Beirut, told reporters that Aoun had acknowledged that "personal weapons are part of Arab and national culture."