Beirut, Lebanon – In an exclusive statement to the Voice of Emirates website, political researcher Tariq Abu Zeinab confirmed that the weapons of the Palestinian factions in Lebanon went beyond being a security detail confined within the walls of the camps.
Rather, it has become an integral part of the open confrontation over
the identity of the Lebanese state and the future of its sovereign decision-making.
He pointed out that while Lebanon took an important practical step in handing over
the weapons of the Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization factions,
the arsenal of the Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad remained outside this path.
This came in light of intersections and data linking its direct fate to Hezbollah’s calculations.
There are also regional extensions that seek to maintain armed pressure cards within the Lebanese arena.
The Lebanese-Palestinian summit and the handover of PLO weapons
Abu Zeinab explained that this shift began primarily after the Lebanese-Palestinian summit
that brought together Presidents Joseph Aoun and Mahmoud Abbas on May 21, 2015.
That summit established a fundamental and indivisible principle:
respect for Lebanese sovereignty and the state’s monopoly on the use of force.
He added that on August 21 of the same year, the process of handing over weapons
from Fatah and other PLO factions to the Lebanese army began.
This was achieved through the efforts and follow-up of the Palestinian President’s Special Representative, Yasser Abbas.
This step reflected a Palestinian political decision to recognize
the Lebanese institutions as the sole authority for managing security.
He also emphasized that Palestinian rights are protected through dialogue
and the rule of law, not through force and outside the bounds of sovereignty.
The complex issue of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s arsenal and its connection to Hezbollah
Conversely, the political analyst pointed out that this sovereign path clearly stops at the borders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
since the two movements have not engaged in the disarmament process.
He emphasized that the available information indicates that addressing
their weapons remains contingent on Hezbollah’s position and the fate of its arsenal.
This issue takes on deeper significance following the “Peace Council” agreement announced
by US President Donald Trump in July 2016, which aimed to completely disarm Hamas and the factions in Gaza.
This agreement eliminates any political or security justification for the continued
existence of this arsenal outside the authority of the Lebanese state,
especially given the military coordination between these factions and Hezbollah on the southern front.
The repercussions of factional weapons on the future of stability
Abu Zeinab concluded his statement by emphasizing that the Lebanese
equation can no longer tolerate ambiguity or piecemeal compromises.
The issue transcends the internal Palestinian dispute because the PLO has chosen to abide by the state’s authority,
while the factions linked to the regional axis insist on maintaining their armed exceptions.
He stressed that completing the disarmament process to include all factions without exception,
and extending the Lebanese army’s authority over all territory, is the only way to end the erosion of sovereignty.
This would allow Lebanon to move from managing illegal weapons to eliminating them.
It would also allow it to restore its unified state with a single army and a single sovereign decision-making body.
