First 100 families return to battered Lebanon camp
(Adds details, refugee quote, UNRWA quote)
By Nazih Siddiq
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The first 100 Palestinian families returned on Wednesday to Nahr al-Bared, a refugee camp which was largely destroyed in 15 weeks of fighting between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants, witnesses said.
The army took control of the camp in northern Lebanon in early September after defeating al Qaeda-inspired Fatah al-Islam militants in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war that had forced most of the camp's 40,000 residents to flee to the nearby Beddawi camp.
A convoy of buses took the families from Beddawi to Nahr al-Bared, where they were given relief packages containing bottled water, canned food, bread and dates.
The families returned to newer parts of the camp on the outskirts of Nahr al-Bared. Witnesses said these houses, though partly destroyed or burned, had escaped the massive bombardment that devastated the centre of the camp which was set up to house Palestinians displaced by the creation of Israel in 1948.
Army troops checked their identity cards at the entrance to the camp. Some individuals were turned away, the witnesses said.
"I'm so happy about going back, even if it's to just one inch of what's left of my home. It's as symbolic as returning to Palestine," said 60-year-old Um Akram Awdeh, in a waiting bus.
But not all refugees felt the same way.
"I swear to God I'm not happy because my house has been completely destroyed. This is not a victory (for the army)," said a bearded man in a waiting bus who declined to be named.
Wednesday's group was the first of those scheduled to return in the next few days to the shattered coastal camp near Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli.
Relief agencies brought in several trucks loaded with food and water, and set up mobile health centres.
"We're expecting 100 families to come in daily and we have permission for 800 families to return to part of the new camp," said Hoda Elturk, spokeswoman for UNRWA, the U.N. agency which cares for Palestinian refugees.
She said UNRWA would give rent money to refugees who are unable to return or would accommodate them in temporary housing units being erected near the southern entrance of the camp.
More than 400 people, including 168 Lebanese soldiers and 222 militants, were killed in the Nahr al-Bared fighting, Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.
The Lebanese government has put the cost of relief for the refugees, reconstruction of the camp and help for nearby municipalities at $382.5 million.
International donors have pledged about $20 million in addition to $12 million promised by Saudi Arabia and $5 million by the United Arab Emirates.
