CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 15

LILIT HARUTUNYAN
Another clash over the control of a mosque happened in 2008 in the Burj al-
Barajneh camp between Islamic Jihad and Fatah that resulted in the death of
one person.
Some incidents involve violence by Palestinian political factions
directed against the camp residents. An example of this is the murder of
Reem, a 17 year old female living in the Shatila refugee camp (Beirut). 43 A
Palestinian from Syria residing in Lebanon, she was reportedly afflicted by
psychological problems and drug addiction. At around 4:15AM on July 1,
2008, at the western entrance of the Shatila camp, Reem was stopped at the
gate and asked by the head of the security committee in the camp why she
was entering at night with her boyfriend. When she replied that it was none
of his business, she was shot by the personal bodyguard of the head of the
local security committee. The security committee came to the scene to
review the incident, but left her bleeding for 45 minutes before an ambulance
arrived and took her to the hospital. A coroner came to the hospital to
investigate the murder, but quickly closed the file. Soon afterwards, her
family was authorized to pick up her body and she was buried later the same
day. The PHRO fieldworker asked the security committee whether the
murderer would be handed over to the Lebanese security forces. They
replied that they were waiting for a response from Reem’s family whether
they would file a formal complaint or accept financial compensation
(fidyya). What is particularly interesting in this story is the complicity
between the Palestinian security committee and the Lebanese police, both
treating Reem as a person who can be eliminated by anyone without
punishment. 44
Still, political factions can and occasionally do play a positive role by
mediating between parties in conflict and enforcing certain community
norms and customs. Indeed, some focus group participants, the members of
security committees in particular, insisted that the security situation in the
camps would be worse without the political factions, stating, “The factions
have their advantages. They serve the people in the camps and act as a
buffer. The factions stand in the way of those who want to create havoc”. 45
“Globaljihadi” groups in Ayn al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp
Over the past decade, the refugee camps in Lebanon have been the
scene of a religious revival, influenced by the growth of conservative Sunni
Islam in urban areas such as Tripoli and Sidon, where Lebanese Islamist
to Hamas. See “Hamas, Fatah Clash in Refugee Camp after Prayer Dispute”, The Daily Star,
August 24, 2010.
43
Palestinian Human Rights Organisation, A Case to Register in the Name of Humanity:
Where are our Camps Going? Whom to Serve? And Until When?, Unpublished document.
44
Agamben, Homo Sacer.
45
Ibid.
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