Lebanon forces besiege Palestinian refugee camp

Electronic Lebanon
In the worst internal violence since the end of Lebanon's bloody civil war 17 years ago, fighting between the Lebanese army and the shadowy militant group Fatah Al-Islam has claimed at least 80 lives as of 22 May 2007, including combatants as well as civilians. On 20 May, Lebanese security forces raided a Tripoli building to arrest bank robbery suspects, which was followed by an attack by Fatah Al-Islam militants on Lebanese army installations at the entrance to Nahr Al-Bared camp.
While fighting flared up in the north of Lebanon, a car bomb attack in Beirut killed one on 20 May, followed by another bombing in the capital the next day. The Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp's 30,000 residents (who mostly originate from the northern Galilee region of historic Palestine and were forced out or fled during the establishment of the state of Israel) have been under siege and caught in the cross-fire as Lebanese forces pledged to flush out Fatah Al-Islam.
Emergency and humanitarian workers reported difficulties in reaching affected civilians, and have been fired upon by combatants. As a shaky ceasefire mostly held the night of 22 May, thousands of camp residents fled, telling of the deaths of many civilians who have not yet been recovered. Protests have erupted at Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon, where 400,000 Palestinian refugees make up 10 percent of the country's population -- over half of whom live in impoverished, overcrowded refugee camps.