NAHR AL BARED, Lebanon July 4th 2007 --  Three Islamist fighters were killed as the Lebanese army repulsed an attack inside a Palestinian camp in northern Lebanon, security sources said Wednesday.
A correspondent at the scene, meanwhile, reported renewed exchanges of gunfire between the army and Fatah Al Islam fighters around Nahr Al Bared refugee camp, amid bursts of shells fired by the military.
The sources said that the bodies of three militants were evacuated by civil defense workers after the attack on the army late Tuesday in Nahr Al Bared, the scene of a six-week standoff between troops and Al Qaeda-inspired extremists.

"There was an infiltration attempt. The army fired back and the militants pulled back to positions deep inside the camp, as usual. They have no fixed posts," an army spokesman said, without confirming the casualties. Fatah Al Islam militants "tried to advance toward buildings near the fringes of the camp to fire at soldiers. The army opened up with artillery, forcing their retreat and silencing their snipers," he said.  Fatah Al Islam, which had spokesmen contactable by mobile phone in the early stages of the battle, was again unreachable Wednesday. Their phone lines have apparently been cut off.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned anew of the deteriorating humanitarian situation inside the camp. An ICRC spokeswoman, Virginia de la Guardia, said that relief workers had not been able to deliver food and water supplies to the camp since June 20, with trapped residents running out of supplies. "Discussions are continuing with the army" for access, she said.  The last food rations that entered the camp amounted to 760 kilograms (1,670 pounds), enough for just over 100 people for two weeks, said the delegate of the ICRC, which has been coordinating relief.

الباحث والمحلل السياسي اللبناني يرى أن ما تقوم به عصابة شاكر العبسي تنفيذ لتوجيهات سورية

سجعان القزي لـ "السياسة": كل المخيمات الفلسطينية في لبنان "نهر بارد"

جريدة السياسة الكويتية : الخميس، 21 - يونيو - 2

بيروت ـ من صبحي الدبيسي:

المقدمة

اعتبر الباحث والمحلل السياسي سجعان القزي أن التوطين أصبح واقعاً في لبنان منذ توقيع اتفاق القاهرة سنة، 1969 لاسيما مع تمدد الوجود الفلسطيني بشرياً وعسكرياً في كل لبنان وتحوله في نفس الوقت إلى مشروع دولة محل الدولة اللبنانية، لكنه لفت إلى أن هذا المشروع سقط مع مقاومة اللبنانيين له في حرب نيسان/ ابريل، 1975 وظن اللبنانيون سنة 1982 أن المخيمات الفلسطينية عادت مخيمات، فإذا بهم بتفاجاؤن بأنها أصبحت مجدداً معسكرات ودويلات داخل الدولة اللبنانية. وكل مخيم فلسطيني في لبنان بات دولة فلسطينية على غرار الدولة الفلسطينية المنشأة في الأراضي الفلسطينية المستعادة.

وفي موضوع التوطين الفلسطيني رأى القزي أنه ليس بحاجة إلى حرب "نهر البارد" لكي ينفذ، فهو قائم بحكم الوجود الفلسطيني داخل المخيمات وخارجها، بحكم عدم وجود سلطة الدولة في هذه المخيمات، وخاصة بحكم عدم وجود أفق حل لا للقضية الفلسطينية فحسب، وإنما للانتشار الفلسطيني خارج الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة أيضاً، مشدداً على أن الوضع الفلسطيني في لبنان لا يمكن أن يبقى بعد معركة "نهر البارد"، مثلما كان قبلها.

BEIRUT Daily star: A hotel owner called on all tourist establishments in Beirut to abide by a two day strike on Monday to protest the government's negligence of the tourism sector. Amin Khayat,  also president of the Tourist Institutions in Beirut, warned the strike is just the beginning. "We may resort to other means in the next 15 days if the government and the concerned parties refrained from assisting the tourism sector," Khayat told a press conference. "The government promised us to secure a special fund to help the tourism sector. But none of their promises were fulfilled." He said that hotels will stop receiving visitors for two days.

Khayat wants a special electricity bill for all tourist establishments, as is the case for industrialists, and a resetting of taxes and VAT. But most hotel and restaurant owners are unlikely to comply with the strike call although they all sympathize with Khayat's demands. "We fully sympathize with Khayat's demands but I don't think most of the establishments will close their businesses for two days," Paul Aryss, the president of the Restaurant Owners Association, told the paper.

BEIRUT - Former ministers who figure on a list of Syrian and Lebanese personalities banned from entering the United States said on Saturday they felt