Palestinian Barriers Reveal State Inability & “Elio’s Blood” Calls for Radical Change: Time to End the “Agreement”!

لبنان اليوم

: A tragedy befell the Shatila area of Beirut, last Saturday evening, where the young man Elio Ernesto Walid Abu Hanna, a graduate of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik with a degree in Chemistry, died after being shot while passing through the area in his car.

According to the information received , Elio was on his way home after visiting friends in Jal El Dib, but he took the wrong road and took a side road that passes near the “Shatila Camp” restaurant, where he encountered a checkpoint belonging to the Palestinian security forces. Initial data indicates that the young man did not stop at the checkpoint, either out of fear or because he did not know the nature of the armed group, which prompted the members to open fire directly on the car, resulting in a fatal injury that killed him.

In a related context, the general coordinator of the National Campaign to Return Syrian Displaced Persons, Captain: Maroun Khoury, strongly condemned what he described as the “heinous crime” against Elio Abu Hanna, considering it a “blatant attack on Lebanese sovereignty and the dignity of every Lebanese citizen.”

Khoury pointed out that this incident brought back to mind the danger of Palestinian weapons spread outside the authority of the state, warning that the continuation of this situation poses a real threat to national security. He asked: “How is it allowed for armed checkpoints to exist inside the capital? And who guarantees that the tragedy will not be repeated?”

He added that what is known as the “Palestinian Security Committee” bears direct responsibility for this crime, and that the Lebanese authorities also bear a large part of the responsibility as a result of chronic negligence in controlling weapons and organizing the armed Palestinian presence.

Khoury also believes that “Elio’s blood must constitute a real turning point that ends what is called the security-social agreement between the Lebanese state and the Palestinian factions, after it has proven its utter failure to protect Lebanese citizens,” stressing that the Lebanese are “tired of paying the price for weapons that they have no connection to, from 1948 until today.”

Khoury called for weapons to be withdrawn from all Palestinian camps without any exception, and placed under the authority of the Lebanese state exclusively, stressing the need to launch a national and international path to address the root cause of the Palestinian refugee issue, in a way that preserves their dignity and ends Lebanon’s suffering that has continued for more than seven decades.

Khoury concluded by saying: “Elio’s blood will not be lost. The Lebanese will no longer accept the chaos of illegal weapons, and the sovereignty of Lebanon and the security of its people will no longer be hostage to any weapon outside the state.”