Lebanon displaced shelter with Palestinian refugees

AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, July 28 (Reuters) Palestinians in this impoverished camp have turned from downtrodden refugees to generous hosts as they offer shelter to Lebanese families fleeing Israeli bombardment.

With the southern city of Sidon reeling under the influx of thousands of people escaping devastated border villages, dozens of Lebanese families have found temporary homes nearby in the country's biggest Palestinian refugee camp.

''This is a first. Palestinians refugees are receiving the displaced Lebanese,'' said Ibrahim al-Maqdah, commander of the Popular Army, one of the numerous Palestinian factions which roam freely in the crowded alleyways.

''But they will enjoy staying here more than anywhere else. We are a nation of refugees, we know how to entertain them,'' said Maqdah, 45, a tall man with a long salt-and-pepper beard wearing green military fatigues.

Like many of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees registered in Lebanon, Maqdah was born in a refugee camp after his family lost its home following the 1948 creation of Israel.

He fought with late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and against Israeli troops that invaded in 1982 to expel Palestinian militants.

Palestinians were widely blamed in Lebanon for sparking the civil war and triggering Israel's invasion. The camps of the mainly Sunni Muslim refugees were attacked by both Christian and Shi'ite fighters during the war.

The end of the civil war in 1990 brought little relief as successive governments continued to restrict Palestinian employment and property rights, fearing they might settle permanently in Lebanon and upset its delicate sectarian balance.

MORE RIGHTS In a sign of continued neglect, rubbish piles up in rutted lanes and sewage runs through the streets of Ain el-Hilweh. But aid workers say deprivation has not dented the generosity of the refugees, whose donations were so overwhelming they had to send a large surplus to other centres housing Lebanese displaced.

''People have been donating clothes, food, blankets and sheets,'' said Atef Moussa, a volunteer. ''We had to call on them through mosques' loudspeakers to stop, they are in need too.'' The Lebanese refugees were settled in three U.N.-run schools in the camp, sleeping in classrooms but supplied with television sets, washing machines and round-the-clock electricity, luxuries some other displaced centres do not enjoy.

Hope and optimism have been running high in the camp since Hizbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border operation, igniting Israel's offensive that killed at least 433 people and displaced around 750,000. At least 51 Israelis have been killed.

Maqdah, the militant commander, said he hoped for some kind of return from Hizbollah if the Lebanese guerrilla group survives Israel's offensive and emerges stronger.

''A strong Hizbollah will not disarm and we will also get to retain our weapons,'' he said, referring to the mounting domestic and international pressure on Hizbollah and the Palestinian factions in Lebanon to relinquish their weapons.

Armed factions inside the camps say they want to keep their weapons to prevent possible attacks like the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, carried out by Christian Lebanese militias in camps which were guarded by Israeli troops.

Ibrahim Wakid, 67, also hoped for better times.

''Maybe if they win, they will improve our conditions here, or help allow our children to work,'' he said.

Reuters DKA DB0854