Nahr al-Barid Camp

What is affected

	Housing Social/public
	Housing private
	InfrastructureWater
	InfrastructureWater
	Energy
	sanitation, transport, waste management, health services, etc.

Type of violation

Forced eviction
Demolition/destruction

Date

20 May 2007

Region

MENA [ Middle East/North Africa ]

Country

Lebanon

Location

Nahr al-Barid Camp, Tripoli

Affected persons

	Total 31000
	Men 0
	Women 0
	Children 0
	Refugees
	IDPs
	Palestinian refugeees as IDPs in Lebanon

Proposed solution

Key recommendations \r\n\r\n\r\nTo the government of Central African Republic\r\n\r\n- Appoint a clear IDP focal point with overall responsibility for protecting IDPs’ rights\r\n\r\n- seek assistance from the international community to develop a National

Details

GLOBAL SURVEY 2003-2006.pdf

Development

Forced eviction

Costs

Demolition/destruction

Housing losses

- Number of homes

9000

- Total value €

Infrastructure

Duty holder(s) /responsible party(ies)

	State
	Private party
	Fatah al-Islam movement and Lebanon army counterinsurgency

Brief narrative

24 May 2007, CounterPunch Exclusive, http://www.counterpunch.org/lamb05242007.html\r\n\r\nInside Narh al-Bared and Bedawi Refugee Camps\r\nWho’s Behind the Fighting in North Lebanon?\r\n\r\nBy Franklin Lamb\r\n\r\nTripoli, Lebanon.\r\n\r\nWearing a beat-up ratty UNCHR tee-shirt left over from Bint Jbeil and the Israeli-Hezbollah July probably helped. As did, I suspect, the Red Cross jersey, my black and white checkered kaffieyh and the Palestinian flag taped to my lapel as I joined a group of Palestinian aid workers and slipped into Nahr el-Bared trying not to look conspicuous. \r\n\r\nOur mission was to facilitate the delivery of food, blankets and mattresses, but I was also curious about the political situation. Who was behind the events that erupted so quickly and violently following a claimed ’bank robbery’? A heist that depending on who you talked to, netted the masked bandits $ 150,000, $ 1,500 or $ 150!\r\n\r\nIt seems that every Beirut media outlet has a different source of ’inside information’ based on which Confession owns it and ’knows’ the real culprits pulling the strings. But then, even we who are particularly obtuse have realized, as the late Rafic Hariri often counseled: In Lebanon, believe nothing of what you are told and only half of what you see! My friends made we swear out loud that I would claim to be Canadian instead of American if Al Qaeda types stopped us inside the Camp. My impression was that they were not so worried about my safety but for their own if they got caught with me. It would not be the first time that I relied on my northern neighbors to get me out of a potential US nationality jam in the Middle East, so I ditched my American ID.\r\n\r\nWe were advised as we approached the Fatah al Islam stronghold that we would be in the cross-hairs of Lebanese army snipers from outside of Nahr el-Bared Camp as well as Fatah al-Islam snipers from the inside, and that any false move or bad luck could prove fatal.\r\n\r\nAfter three days of shelling and more than 100 dead and with no electricity or water, Nahr el-Baled reeks of burned and rotting flesh, charred houses with smoldering contents, raw sewage and the acrid smell of exploded mortars and tank rounds.\r\n\r\nPress figures of 30,000-32,000 are not accurate. 45,000 live in Bared! Contrary to some reports food and water still not being allowed in.\r\n\r\n15 to 70 percent of some areas destroyed. Some light shooting this morning and afternoon. Army shelling at rate of 10-18 shells per minute from 4:30 am to 10 am on Tuesday. Army will not allow Palestinian Red Crescent to move out civilians because they don’t trust them. Only the Lebanese Red Cross is allowed. It is possible to enter Bared from the back (east side). The Army taking cameras of journalists they catch. The Lebanese government is controlling the information and don’t want extent of damage known yet. Still unrecovered bodies. 40 per cent of the camp population have been evacuated. The rest don’t want to leave out of fear of being shot or that they are losing their homes for the 5th time or more for some.\r\n\r\nNo electricity and cell phone batteries are dying. Relatives who fled are telling families to stay because there are not enough mattresses at Bedawi Camp. Bared evacuees are living up to 25 in one room in Badawi schools etc. 3,000 evacuees in one school in Bedawi. UN aid is starting to arrive at Badawi but workers not able so far to deliver it to Bared due to attack on relief convoy on Tuesday.\r\n\r\nI met Abdul Rahman Hallab famous for Lebanese candy factory in Tripoli. Helped him unload 5,000 meals to evacuees from Bared staying in Badawi. He is Lebanese not Palestinian.\r\n\r\nThe camp population all say that Fatah Al-Islam came in September-October 2006 and have no relatives in the camp. They are from Saudi, Pakistan, Algeria, Iraq, and Tunisia and elsewhere. No Palestinians among them except some hanger ons. Most say they are paid by the Hariri group.\r\n\r\nReports that

Costs

€ 0

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