Lebanese army soldiers are stationed at the Burj al-Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees in Beirut's southern suburbs. AFP
"Today marks the beginning of the first phase of the process of handing over weapons from inside the Palestinian camps," Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee chairman Ramez Dimashkieh said in a statement.
The process began in the Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut, where an initial batch of weapons was placed in the custody of the Lebanese army, according to Dimashkieh.
A Palestinian security official told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that "Fatah will begin handing over its weapons in Burj al-Barajneh camp within the framework of the coordination with the Lebanese army."
An AFP photojournalist saw dozens of fighters in military fatigues carrying Kalashnikov rifles as crowds gathered outside the Beirut headquarters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement.
The move follows a deal reached in May during a visit by Abbas to Beirut, during which he and Lebanese president Joseph Aoun agreed that all arms in Palestinian refugee camps would eventually be surrendered to the Lebanese state.
A Palestinian security source at Burj al-Barajneh described Thursday’s move as largely symbolic, saying: "Fatah's initiative in beginning to hand over weapons is symbolic, and came as a result of an agreement between Aoun and the Palestinian president's son, Yasser Abbas, who is currently visiting Beirut."
"It aims to encourage the remaining (Palestinian armed) factions to take the same step," the source added, while noting that the other influential groups in the camp "have not yet decided to hand over their weapons".
Badie al-Habet, a member of the Fatah leadership in Beirut, said the handover would see the "turning over of illegitimate weapons in the hands of illegitimate individuals".
He added that weapons held by Palestinian security personnel inside the camps would not be included.
Lebanon hosts around 222,000 Palestinian refugees, according to the UN agency UNRWA, most of them living in overcrowded and impoverished camps that remain largely outside of state control.
The majority are descendants of those who were forcibly displaced during the Nakba, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands by Zionist militia paving the way for the creation of Israel in 1948.
Among the camps is Ain al-Hilweh, near the southern city of Sidon — the largest in Lebanon.
The disarmament was originally scheduled to begin in mid-June but was delayed.
In an interview with Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya last week, Aoun attributed the hold-up to the Iran-Israel war that broke out that month, as well as to "internal considerations within the Palestinian Authority".
The Palestinian Authority does not exercise control over many of the armed groups in the camps — most notably Hamas — and some factions have resisted the call to disarm.
Short link: