Geagea says govt must set timeframe for disarming Palestinian camps
by Naharnet Newsdesk 22 May 2025, 14:08
The government must set a timeframe not exceeding a few weeks to collect Palestinian arms inside and outside camps and become in charge of security, Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea said Thursday as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Lebanon.
Abbas and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun agreed that Palestinian factions won't use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren't under the authority of the Lebanese state.
Geagea praised Abbas saying he has always worked towards maintaining "healthy Lebanese-Palestinian ties".
"Abbas' statements have refuted every excuse the Axis of Resistance was hiding behind in order to continue carrying illegal weapons," Geagea said, adding that time has come for Lebanese people to have a real state with monopoly on weapons.
A joint statement by Aoun and Abbas said that both sides have agreed that weapons should only be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of "weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended."
The statement said that both sides have agreed that Palestinian camps in Lebanon aren't "safe havens for extremist groups." It added that "the Palestinian side confirms its commitment of not using Lebanese territories to launch any military operations."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Nahar Net
15 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Iran demands 'guarantee' US will lift sanctions in nuclear talks
by Naharnet Newsdesk 8 hours Tehran called on Washington to provide a formal guarantee that it will lift sanctions imposed on Iran in ongoing talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear program. "We want to guarantee that the sanctions are effectively lifted," foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference Monday in Tehran. "So far, the American side has not wanted to clarify this issue."
Nahar Net
15 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Salam meets Berri in Ain el-Tineh, says his doors 'always open' for Hezbollah
by Naharnet Newsdesk 6 hours Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Monday that his "doors are always open" for Hezbollah after he met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, as the gap between Salam and Berri's ally Hezbollah seemed to widen over the group's disarmament. "I am leaving plenty of room for cordiality with (Hezbollah MP) Hajj Mohammad Raad and my doors are always open for him and Hezbollah," Salam said. Raad had recently criticized Salam for recently omitting the word "Resistance" from the "Resistance and Liberation Day" holiday in one of his statements, but said he would not respond to Salam's comments on Hezbollah's disarmament "to preserve what's left of cordiality." Berri on Friday told local al-Joumhouria newspaper that "if Salam escalates, we will escalate and if he chooses to calm things down, we will calm them down," after Salam said in recent comments that the era of "exporting the Iranian revolution has ended" and that the state "will not remain silent over any arms outside the state's control". In his interview with al-Joumhouria, Berri also urged the government to prioritize the construction of war-hit regions, saying it's the government's responsibility "whether it likes it or not." Berri had met last Friday with President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda Palace, in talks he described as "excellent."
Nahar Net
15 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Israel bars media from visiting West Bank villages on tour organized by Oscar winners
by Naharnet Newsdesk 02 June 2025, 17:12 Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie "No Other Land." The directors of the film, which focuses on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territory, said they had invited the journalists on the tour Monday to interview residents about increasing settler violence in the area. In video posted on X by the film's co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli soldier tells a group of international journalists there is "no passage" in the area because of a military order. Basel Adra, a Palestinian co-director of the film who lives in the area, said the military then blocked the journalists from entering two Palestinian villages they had hoped to visit. Israel's military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'They don't want the world to see what is happening here' "They don't want journalists to visit the villages to meet the residents," said Adra, who had invited the journalists to his home. "It's clear they don't want the world to see what is happening here." Some of the surrounding area, including a collection of small Bedouin villages known as Masafer Yatta, was declared by the military to be a live-fire training zone in the 1980s. Some 1,000 Palestinians have remained there despite being ordered out, and journalists, human rights activists and diplomats have visited the villages in the past. Palestinian residents in the area have reported increasing settler violence since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and kickstarted the war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers regularly move in to demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards — and Palestinians fear outright expulsion could come at any time. Adra said the journalists were eventually able to enter one of the villages in Masafer Yatta, but were barred from entering Tuwani, the village where he lives, and Khallet A-Daba, where he had hoped to take them. Adra said settlers arrived in Khallet A-Daba Monday and took over some of the caves where village residents live, destroying residents' belongings and grazing hundreds of sheep on village lands. The military demolished much of the village last month. Film won several awards "No Other Land," which won the Oscar this year for best documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages. The joint Palestinian-Israeli production was directed by Adra, Hamdan Ballal, another Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, along with Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. The film has won a string of international awards. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want all three for their future state and view settlement growth as a major obstacle to a two-state solution. Israel has built well over 100 settlements, home to over 500,000 settlers who have Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
