Hammoud says refugees here will be first in line after accord…(1)

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said Thursday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has promised that refugees here would receive “priority” if their return were agreed to under a regional settlement.
Hammoud, who made the comments to the National News Agency from the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo, said Arafat told the ministers that priority would be given to find a solution for the approximately 365,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Arafat added that such solution should be based on the Palestinian right of return ­ in other words, no Palestinian refugee will remain in Lebanon, according to Hammoud.
“Lebanon’s stand insists on demanding the right of return and refusing any form of settlement,” he said.
The minister was in Cairo for the emergency ministerial meeting of the follow-up committee formed during October’s Arab Summit in Cairo.
On Wednesday, Arafat accepted President Clinton’s suggestion that 10 days of intensive peace talks be held with “Israel” under US auspices, as the basis for peace negotiations.
The US proposals aim to resolve outstanding issues, one of which is the Palestinian refugees’ right of return.
Hammoud said the committee “unanimously” supported Lebanon’s stand on refugees.
Diplomatic sources said from the Cairo meeting that Hammoud had expressed reservations concerning the current negotiations between Palestinians and “Israelis”.
“We already know the results of such talks, which will lead to nowhere,” Hammoud said, according to the sources.
Hammoud called President Emile Lahoud to brief him about the meeting’s results.

Lebanon sentences 48 for collaboration with “Israel”…(2)

Beirut's military court on Thursday sentenced 48 Lebanese for collaboration with “Israel”, with prison terms ranging from one week to five years, court sources said.

Eight other defendants were judged not guilty.

Two people were sentenced to three and five years in prison respectively for "collaboration with the intelligence services" of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), “Israel’s” proxy militia during its 22-year occupation of the region, which ended in May.

The other 46 were sentenced to between one week and 18 months in prison for entering "enemy territory" or for having enrolled with the SLA, the sources said.

A total of 2,041 sentences have been handed down since June 5, when the Beirut court began trying some 2,500 defendants on charges of collaboration with “Israel”.

Eleven people have been condemned to death and three others to life in prison, all in absentia.

Collaborators complain “Israeli” treatment…(3)

Lebanese collaborators with the “Israeli” enemy, who fled Lebanon to “Israel” during the “Israeli” army withdrawal from Lebanon complained from living conditions in “Israel”.

Teachers in the school, designated for the children of the collaborators, launched an open strike in protest for their low salaries, which do not exceed $250 per months, and due to their bad work conditions.

250 out of 800 children of the collaborators are studying in this school.

It is worthwhile to mention that 3,700 collaborators, belonging to the former so-called Southern Lebanese Army headed by Lahd, are still in “Israel”. 6,500 of them had fled Lebanon during the May “Israeli” pull-out, which ended a 22-year-old occupation.

Intifadah challenges negotiations…(4)

Although the spread of news about Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat's consent of U.S. proposals, intifadah fighter continued their operations against the “Israeli” occupation, carrying out a series of attacks Thursday on “Israeli” military patrols and outposts.

 An “Israeli” army spokesman said a patrol had come under fire near the Nahal Oz checkpoint on the “Israel”-Gaza border and shot back. There were no casualties. He said troops had found an unexploded roadside bomb on a West Bank road used by Jewish settlers.

The army said earlier Palestinian gunmen had fired at a Jewish settlement near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, but causing no casualties.

Palestinian police said “Israeli” troops had fired shells at a refugee camp near Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, wounding two people.

They said a gun battle between Palestinian police and “Israeli” troops had taken place there earlier.

Footnotes:

The Daily Star, 5-1-2001.

1-      AFP, 4-1-2001.

2-      Manar TV, 4-1-2001.

3-      Same source.