Lebanon (all aspects)

[Rex Brynen]

By global standards, very few Palestinian refugee camps are truly "squalid" by global standrads

Ugh, I need to learn to proofread.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1023/p7s1-wome.htm
Al-Ali has lived for nine years in the Ozo district of the refugee camp. Ain al-Hilweh is Arabic for "Sweet Spring," the waters of which once irrigated the orange groves surrounding the coastal city of Sidon, 20 miles south of Beirut. But today, the only running water is the raw sewage trickling down open drains. Barefoot children play in the filth outside Al-Ali's front door.
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As I noted earlier, conditions in all of the camps in Lebanon are much worse than those in Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank. Until fairly recently, Palestinians (and often even the UN) were prohibited from taking building materials into the camps by the Lebanese army--again, out of fear of "tawtiin" (permanent resettlement). That policy has now been changed.

Ayn al-Hilwa is the largest camp in Lebanon (about 45,000), has particularly bad conditions, and appalling local security conditions: as with all camps (except now Nahr al-Barid) there is no Lebanese security presence in the camps, which instead is full of myriad armed factions, including various militant Islamist ones (notably Jund al-Sham). You'll find a camp profile here.

In addition to UNRWA statistics, the best source of information on Palestinian refugees is FAFO.

The very informative website of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (despite its name, a Lebanese government policy unit) is here. Full disclosure: I worked as a policy advisor for these folks this summer.

[Sarajevo071]

DNA tests on body thought to be Abssi's come back negative

The Lebanese Army continued on Thursday to hunt down fleeing members of Fatah al-Islam, killing one and capturing seven within the vicinity of the battered Northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared as DNA tests came back negative for a body earlier identified as that of Shaker al-Abssi-leader of the group.
...

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article....ticle_id=85098

[bourbon]

Reading this now:

Al Qaeda in Lebanon: The Iraq War Spreads, by Nir Rosen. Boston Review, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008

[Rex Brynen]

Nir Rosen's piece is excellent.

So too is Bernard Rougier's Everyday Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam among Palestinians in Lebanon.

[Jedburgh]

Real Instituo Elcano, 12 Feb 08:

Fatah al-Islam: Anthropological Perspectives on Jihadi Culture

....This paper argues that the Jihadi culture of FaI is an appropriated and non-traditional culture which must be defended at all costs by its followers precisely because it is an artificial entity. FaI resembles any other Salafi Jihadi group in the sense that the only viable frame of reference is similar Jihadi groups, and this self-contained universe produces self-reference and little else. The appropriated cultural identity of a Jihadi explains the at times absurd insistence and emphasis on details pertaining to cultural symbols of a largely superficial nature. The battle for control of these symbols became FaI’s centre of gravity as a militant group, allowing it to distinguish itself from mainstream society, to which it certainly did not belong, and from other militant Islamist groups as well.....

[marct]

Very interesting article, Ted!

The appropriated cultural identity of a Jihadi explains the at times absurd insistence and emphasis on details pertaining to cultural symbols of a largely superficial nature. The battle for control of these symbols became FaI’s centre of gravity as a militant group, allowing it to distinguish itself from mainstream society, to which it certainly did not belong, and from other militant Islamist groups as well. (page 4)

Which explains part of the porosity within the topological space of Jihadi groups and, also, some of the entry points into that topological space.

[Jedburgh]

The Jamestown Foundation's Terrorism Focus, 24 Jun 08:

Fighting in Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugee Camps Result of Increased Islamist Influence

Approximately a year has passed since the outbreak of violence between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the armed Islamist group Fatah al-Islam in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in Northern Lebanon; and yet—one year later—the situation in the camps is far from being stable. On the contrary, episodes of violence have spread to the Ain al-Hilweh camp, and the conflict has broadened to include other Salafist factions, such as Jund al-Sham, or Asbat al-Ansar.

In the past few months fighting has resumed in the Ain al-Hilweh camp, the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon, located near the southern city of Sidon. Accordingly, Ain al-Hilweh—traditionally a foothold of Fatah and the former operating base of Yasser Arafat in the 1980s—is now increasingly under the control of Islamist groups. Among such factions, one of the most active has certainly been Jund al-Sham....