Gulf states bankroll Palestinian camp

CAMP REBUILD: Palestinian school children walk through the devastated refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon. Four Gulf states will foot around half of the bill of rebuilding the Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon destroyed last year during clashes between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army. (AFP)

Four Gulf states will foot around half of the bill of rebuilding a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon destroyed last year during clashes between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army, Lebanon's prime minister said Monday.

"The contribution made by the four Arab Gulf States - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE - will be about 50 percent and the remainder will be made by the international community," Fuad Siniora told a news conference here.

Arab and European leaders were meeting in the Austrian capital to raise funds for the Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon which was reduced to rubble during clashes between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army last year.

Siniora did not give any concrete figure with regard to the four states' contribution. His spokesman Aref Al-Abed told newswire AFP that the countries would meet in Riyadh on July 1 to fix the exact sum.

At the same time, Western countries promised on Monday to contribute $122 million, the spokesman said.

According to estimates by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), $450 million is needed to rebuild Nahr Al-Bared and 15 nearby villages.

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad had said earlier that the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) would contribute around $10 million.

He told the news conference that if a solution to the Palestinian question is to be found by the end of the year, then the international community "must make sure that Israel puts an end to its policy of colonising" the Palestinian territories.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that Europe would contribute $45 million to the reconstruction of the camp.

In addition to Siniora and Ferrero-Waldner, Arab League chief Amr Mussa and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik also attended the conference.

Siniora said in an interview with the Austrian daily Der Standard published Monday that his country "always carried a disproportional share of the burden," referring to the 400,000 Palestinians who live in some 13 refugee camps around Lebanon.

"This conference is an opportunity to put this matter in the right context, to understand the extent of the problem," he added.

"Israel still does not accept the Palestinians' rights, including their right to return. Just as it still does not accept the Arab peace initiative," he noted.

The Lebanese government has two priorities: to address the refugees' humanitarian needs and to provide the resources for reconstruction, Siniora's spokesman Abed said in a statement.

"Improving their quality of life and ensuring their basic rights is closely dependent on the enforcement of law, order and security," he added.

"The Nahr Al-Bared crisis has illustrated the danger of extremism and lawlessness as a source of overall instability for Lebanon, and the urgent need to exercise state authority over the entire Lebanese territory."

The fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants broke out at the camp on May 20 and many refugees were relocated to Beddawi, around 10 kilometres (six miles) south of Nahr al-Bared, causing tension with people there.

More than 450 people - about 300 militants and 168 soldiers - were killed in the bloody clashes before the army crushed the rebel uprising and regained control of the camp on September 2.

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