Two years after it was decimated in a bloody four-month battle between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam militants, the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli remains in ruins. Reconstruction efforts, which have so far come in spits and starts, have now ground to a halt due to a decision by the State Consultative Council, a Lebanese government body, to suspend all rebuilding in order to investigate claims by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun that important archeological remains lay buried beneath the camp. 
 
The lack of progress in rebuilding the camp has left Nahr-al Bared’s scattered former inhabitants (some live in other refugee camps around Lebanon, while others still live in barracks near the old camp) wondering whether the homes will ever be rebuilt. A number have organized protests — two so far, with more planned – to voice their frustration with the humanitarian situation in the camp and the restrictions imposed by the Lebanese army.
 
At one such protest last week in Tripoli, one visibly agitated middle-aged man said, “We are here asking that Nahr al-Bared be rebuilt again so we can go back to our homes… The camp had always been an economic hub for the North, and it can’t be isolated like this. We are both without a living and without shelter, and so suffering a terrible situation.”
 
The man was hesitant for a moment when asked about the security measures taken by the Lebanese Armed Forces, as he said he feared he could face repercussions from the LAF for speaking out. But after a moment his anger seemed to compel him to continue talking.

The checkpoints the army has set up at the entrance of the camp, the requirement that anyone entering present special army-issued passes, and the continuous raids and searches have all, he complained, instilled a sense of humiliation among the camp’s former residents.

Because the fighting at Nahr al-Bared ended with a rare victory for the Lebanese army, it was able to assume full control of the camp and has maintained it ever since.
 
However, fears persist within the army and government that Fatah al-Islam continues to maintain sleeper cells in the vicinity. Because of the ease with which Palestinian identity cards can be forged, the army issued special passes that residents must present upon entering the vicinity of the camp.
 
“The army will for sure lessen these security measures, but you have to keep in mind they cannot abandon them completely,” said former Ambassador Khalil Makkawi, who is also head of the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) the government body responsible for coordinating with Palestinian factions on the ground.  “All these procedures are temporary, and the Internal Security Forces will be given the responsibility for maintaining security in the camps just like in any place else in Lebanon.”
 
But it’s that intense focus on security, at the expense of any efforts to improve living conditions, that has left former residents feeling aggrieved. Residents contend that there is no Fatah al-Islam presence whatsoever in the camp anymore, and that the security measures amount to collective punishment for a group they never had anything to do with.
 
“It is not fair that the state punish all the people of the camp,” said Amr Saadeddine, an activist and member of the Palestinian Aid Committee. Most of the Fatah al-Islam suspects currently awaiting trial are Lebanese, not Palestinians, he said, and of those Palestinians who were arrested for membership in the terrorist group, very few actually had origins in the camp.
 
“If the Salafists in the North also pose a threat to the state, how come areas in which they live haven’t passed similar security procedures?” he said.

The specter of Fatah al-Islam

Opinions remain sharply divided on who is responsible for the 2007 conflict, which left hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians dead. While in the run up to the battle Fatah al-Islam operated freely in the camp, Lebanese and Palestinians disagree over the degree to which residents acquiesced or supported the group.

However, Saadeddine said the government was using the specter of the group as a pretext to justify the changes the Lebanese state wanted to impose on the camp.  “The government is trying to implement a new model to be followed in the other camps,” he said. “Streets have been widened, two military bases are planned to be built outside the camp, and a police station inside it. The concept was introduced by the dialogue committee as ‘community policing’... which means that officers from the Internal Security Forces will be present inside the camps to make it easier to spy,” he said.
 
As it stands, the Lebanese government shows no signs of giving up control of the camp,  and, as Makkawi said, is determined to treat the area just like any other Lebanese territory, albeit it with more security restrictions.
 
It is a “sovereign decision,” Makkawi said of the policy the government has adopted since the conflict, “and just like any other Lebanese land, no visible arms will be allowed on the street.  The new model will be that of respectable living and wider streets. Greener areas are there to provide the Palestinians with a better standard of living while still maintaining the social fabric. By providing them with proper security, the reemergence of terror will be minimal. For that, police stations inside the camp are necessary.”
 
But residents remain unconvinced, and another protest will be planned if the State Consultative Council does not issue a decision to restart construction.