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Following are excerpts from a program on the 'Ein Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp , which aired on Future TV on December 18, 2007
Reporter: Mahmoud is 16 years old. He left school in order to join the Fatah's Armed Struggle Forces, which are led by Colonel Munir Al-Maqdah. Mahmoud is like most of his comrades in this organization – he wears a military uniform, he carries a weapons, and his goals are to defend the camp and to return to Palestine.
Mahmoud: I joined the Popular Army and underwent a course - using a weapon, physical fitness, crawling, and the like. We in the Popular Army are prepared. We are trained. Two months later, I underwent another course in Al-Rashidiya. I trained, I have two certificates, and I know everything: How to take a gun apart, to assemble it, to shoot, to load it, and so on. I know how to attack... Allah be praised, I am trained.
Reporter: Why didn't you complete your studies?
Mahmoud: How? We live in bad conditions. I wanted to start working in order to help my family. I started working, but realized I had no alternative but to join the Fatah.
[...]
Reporter: The Secretary-General of Fatah in the camp, Colonel Munir Al-Maqdah, coordinates through the Monitoring Committee with the rest of the Palestinian factions and Islamic forces in order to maintain security and stability in a camp with 8,000 people who are wanted by the Lebanese security agencies.
Colonel Munir Al-Maqdah: Our weapons are connected to the Right of Return of the Palestinian people, to the implementation of [UN] Resolution 194, and they will continued to serve as a bargaining chip in the hands of Palestinian and Lebanese negotiators, in order to exert pressure until the return of the Palestinian people to its home and its land in Palestine. In the 'Ein Al-Hilweh camp, we have an organization called the Organization for the Palestinian Armed Struggle, which belongs to the PLO. This organization is in charge of security, and a monitoring committee is responsible for security within the camp.
[...]
Reporter: Sheik Khattab told us about the poverty and unemployment suffered by the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. He asserts that what happened in the Nahr Al-Bared camp was part of an international conspiracy against the Palestinian cause.
Sheik Jamal Khattab, representive of Islamic forces in the camp: I believe there is an international conspiracy against the Palestinian cause. This conspiracy may use any title, such as Fath Al-Islam or the Palestinian weapons. Any title can be used to put an end to the cause of the Palestinian refugees, or to drive them out again, like in the case of the Palestinian refugees in Iraq. The Palestinians cannot find any work. They live in heavy poverty and unemployment, most of which is hidden unemployment, because they rely mainly on the aid sent by their relatives abroad.
[...]
Reporter: Carrying weapons and weapons training is self-evident for the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, especially those living in 'Ein Al-Hilweh. There, the Armed Struggle [Forces] and the Fatah movement conduct annual courses to train the youth on weapons. Anyone in 'Ein Al-Hilweh can get a gun and carry it, whether or not he belongs to one of the movements in the camp. Here, there are types of weapons one cannot find elsewhere.
What gun is this?
Armed man: This is a Glock.
Reporter: Where's it from?
Armed man: Austria.
Reporter: Are there many like this here?
Armed man: Depends...
Reporter: Is this gun new or secondhand?
Armed man: It's new, straight out of the packing.
Second armed man: Most of these guns come from Iraq. The people who went to Iraq brought weapons back with them.
[...]
.Reporter: Mahmoud is no different from others in 'Ein Al-Hilweh, when it comes to his position regarding the weapons in the refugee camp. He justifies the existence of these weapons in one sentence: Defending the camp and returning to Palestine.
Mahmoud: If we don't defend ourselves, Sabra and Shatila will recur. We are defending ourselves. Our main goal is to return to Palestine. We carry weapons and try to amass weapons so we will have an opportunity to return to Palestine.
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