Guns for rights? Lebanon's campaign to disarm Palestinian camps

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are caught in a high-stakes sovereignty battle as the Lebanese government moves to disarm the country’s refugee camps.

The campaign has already split Fatah from Hamas and could strip Hezbollah of its longest-standing justification for keeping its own arsenal.

Since August, Fatah has surrendered weapons from seven camps to the Lebanese Army in a calculated bet, where the movement is trading guns for refugee rights.

And now, as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas takes shape in Gaza, Beirut is expecting the movement to surrender its weapons in Lebanon as well.

A Lebanese official close to the negotiations said the calculus has changed as pressure grows on Hamas to surrender weapons in Gaza as part of the ceasefire arrangements. 

"Hamas will surrender its weapons in Gaza and has reached a ceasefire agreement, so on what basis will it keep its weapons in the host country?" a government source told The New Arab, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations.

Analysts believe that this could impact the disarmament of Hezbollah itself, which has long cited the defence of Palestinian rights as a partial justification for maintaining heavy weapons.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been pushing for disarmament for months. In September, the 89-year-old leader used the UN summit, which took place weeks before the ceasefire, to call on Hamas and other armed factions to surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority.

Although he was denied a US visa and was not able to attend physically, he delivered virtual remarks at the high-profile gathering on the two-state solution, where France formally recognised a Palestinian state.

Abbas outlined a comprehensive reform agenda aimed at restoring international trust in the Palestinian Authority, a call that observers said carried particular weight for Palestinians in Lebanon, where factions that have operated autonomously for decades are now being pressed to disarm. The timing of Abbas's appeal coincides with Lebanon's intensified campaign to assert control over the country's 12 refugee camps, home to nearly 174,000 Palestinians.

Since the Lebanese-Palestinian summit in May, when Abbas and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pledged to remove unauthorised weapons and prevent groups from using Lebanon as a base for attacks against Israel, Beirut has accelerated its sovereignty push.

But the disarmament drive has exposed deep fractures within Palestinian ranks. While Fatah, aligned with Abbas, has begun surrendering weapons to Lebanese authorities, groups close to Hamas and Islamic Jihad remain defiant, viewing the campaign as part of a broader plan to undermine Palestinian resistance and potentially depopulate the camps.

These tensions deepened in July when the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper Al-Akhbar published a report alleging a US- and Saudi-backed scheme to encourage the selective emigration of up to 100,000 refugees, claims the Lebanese government denies but which have fuelled widespread suspicion among camp residents.

A sovereignty struggle

The disarmament campaign formally took shape in August with a request to the Lebanese Army to develop a plan to centralise weapons under state control, including those held by Hezbollah, which has rejected the demand.

For Lebanese authorities, Palestinian disarmament represents a crucial step in implementing the Taif Agreement and asserting state sovereignty after decades of parallel armed structures.

"Fatah handing over its weapons to the Lebanese army represents a fundamental step in reducing the pretexts Hezbollah uses for not surrendering its military arsenal," argues Palestinian analyst Tarek Abu Zeinab. "This step removes excuses from the party and other militias."

The Lebanese Army has already collected weapons from multiple camps since August, starting with Burj al-Barajneh in southern Beirut, followed by Rashidieh, al-Bass, and Burj al-Shamali in Tyre. By mid-September, additional weapons were surrendered from Ain al-Hilweh near Sidon and Beddawi near Tripoli.

"The decision has been made regarding weapons and there's no going back - it's a priority for the new administration," a senior Lebanese official involved in negotiations told The New Arab, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official confirmed the initiative emerged from "an understanding with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas".

Hamas finds itself in a particularly delicate position, caught between its alliance with Hezbollah and pressure from Lebanese authorities. The movement's armed presence inside and outside the camps has long been tied to Hezbollah's broader resistance narrative, with the Lebanese group invoking Palestinian rights as one justification for maintaining heavy weapons.

"How can Palestinians be asked to hand over weapons while not a single stone can enter the camps except with Lebanese state permission?" a senior Hamas official in Lebanon asked, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The weapons file dates back to 1969, before Hamas itself existed. It's linked to the Palestinian cause, the right of return, and everything related to Palestinians' civil rights in Lebanon."

The Hamas official confirmed that initial meetings with Ashraf Dmeishqieh, head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, had been positive, but said the movement rejected the initiative following Fatah's unilateral decision to surrender arms to the Lebanese state. 

"This issue concerns all Palestinian factions, not just us. It shouldn't be handled through fragmentation but rather as a collective Palestinian matter."

The official said that Hamas insists any weapons discussion must be part of a comprehensive package addressing healthcare, education, work rights, and building access. He also disputed claims about heavy weapons in the camps, maintaining that “only light and medium arms exist”.

The Lebanese effort faces particular challenges in camps like Ain al-Hilweh, where extremist groups such as Jund al-Sham and al-Shabab al-Muslim operate alongside Palestinian factions.

"They carry weapons and include elements wanted by the Lebanese judiciary, raising serious questions about how to control them within the state's plan," Abu Zeinab tells The New Arab.

The analyst notes that weapons in Ain al-Hilweh "have often been used in internal clashes among Palestinian factions and even by extremist groups against Fatah and the Lebanese Army".

The goal of removing weapons, he adds, "is to protect civilians, keep the camps from becoming battlefields and safeguard the Palestinian cause within a political and legal framework that respects international legitimacy".

But the continued presence of heavy weapons with some factions has led to internal Palestinian tensions, creating a disparity in capabilities, Abu Zeinab observes.

Hamas's refusal to disarm, along with other groups in Ain al-Hilweh, "complicates the disarmament path" and could undermine the entire process.

The camps controversy

Media outlets aligned with Hezbollah have promoted a theory that the United States and Israel, backed by Western powers and with the cover of President Abbas, are seeking to "cleanse" Lebanon's Palestinian camps.

According to these reports, disarmament is meant to facilitate camp closures by easing residents' departure from the sites, while cutting UNRWA funding to pressure communities.

Hezbollah-affiliated commentators claim humanitarian aid would be tied to weapons surrender and the transfer of camp security to the Palestinian Authority, warning that anyone resisting could face arrest.

A Hamas source, declining to discuss the proposal in detail, said "the so-called cleansing of the camps is part of a long Israeli strategy to kill the option of resistance". 

The source added, "The weapons inside the camps are not strategic. The security of the camps is the security of Lebanon itself. Any plan to close the camps will be resisted by the residents, who reject permanent settlement in Lebanon and insist on the right of return."

Lebanese officials have pushed back against these allegations. "There's no intention to do that, only to improve living conditions," a government source told The New Arab on condition of anonymity.

Abu Zeinab dismissed the reported depopulation plan as "ludicrous," emphasising that the camps are "entire communities, highly urbanised and intricate, making them very difficult to dismantle".

Modest improvements

Against this backdrop of security concerns, the Lebanese government has signalled support for modest proposals aimed at improving living conditions in the camps, where nearly 93 percent of Palestinian refugees live below the poverty line.

Dmeishqieh and UNRWA's Dorothy Klaus have met with government officials to discuss initiatives such as issuing biometric ID cards, reducing legal fees, and improving educational facilities in Tyre.

They have also secured agreements to establish a coordinated mechanism for importing building materials into camps and to advance reconstruction in Nahr al-Bared, where 309 families remain displaced since 2007.

Some Lebanese promises have begun to materialise, with construction materials now permitted in the camps and Palestinians allowed to work in certain professions through government decrees.

"Future solutions must address all issues, from the right to work and property ownership to integration and the establishment of a Palestinian state," said Ghassan Ayoub, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) leadership in Lebanon. 

He also emphasised that these rights "should be secured and supported by international law," rather than being explicitly traded for weapons.

Ayoub advocates for gradual progress on Palestinian issues "provided there are sincere intentions," with priority given to humanitarian concerns.

These developments unfold against a complex historical backdrop. Informal arrangements dating back to the 1969 Cairo Agreement left Palestinian camps in Lebanon under the control of armed factions, with the Lebanese Army largely absent.

Over the decades, the camps have remained outside state authority and subject to a web of restrictions, from bans on bringing in construction materials to prohibitions on property ownership and employment in more than 70 professions.

These daily limitations have deepened hardship, turning the camps into pockets of poverty and isolation and creating major obstacles to refugee integration into Lebanese society.

Abu Zeinab notes that "implementing the Taif Agreement and international resolutions has become an urgent necessity to ensure Lebanese state sovereignty and stability, while preserving Palestinians' basic rights to health, education, work, and social protection".

He stressed that the disarmament effort "is not about stripping Palestinians of their identity or their rights but about preserving Lebanon's sovereignty and ensuring stability".

With more than a hundred thousand Palestinians living in Lebanon, he notes that the camps remain "a powerful symbol of the right of return," but the weapons question has become increasingly “untenable”.

This article is published in collaboration with Egab