Submitted by Taraman, Oct 2, 2007 01:54

If only Arabs would read - and accept what's in - this column! During the 70s and 80s, as the civil war in Lebanon raged on, countless Lebanese voices rose to complain about the so-called "Cairo Accord", imposed in 1969 by the League of Arab States on the Lebanese, which effectively allowed rogue armed Palestinian factions to roam free and locked the Lebanese army out of Palestinian camps.

The article does not mention that these Palestinian gangs, hiding behind the "fedayin" or guerilla mask, often carried arms and extorted "protection" money from Lebanese civilians and businesses well beyond the perimeters of the camps stated in the accord. This little overlooked fact pushed many Lebanese, frustrated by this lawless environment, to start arming themselves for "self-protection". Soon, both sides, armed to the teeth, were spoiling for a fight. These were the roots of the Lebanese civil war. Yes it is time for the Arabs to feel guilty and accept the responsibility for more than 200,000 Lebanese and Palestinian deaths and for helping to create a situation which, almost 40 years later, is still wreaking havoc in Lebanon.

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