The “humanitarian” sidelining of Nahr al-Bared

On the rare occasions the media have covered the situation of the camp's more than 30,000 Palestinian inhabitants who fled the camp during the fighting, they have done so with only a narrow focus on the humanitarian problems they face -- ignoring the glaring political questions that only the camp residents seem to be left asking.

In the afternoon of 3 April, Al Jazeera English's film crew along with personnel from the Lebanese security apparatuses appeared in Nahr al-Bared's Majles Street. The Lebanese army and security apparatuses have so far forbidden any filming or photographing in Nahr al-Bared. At the various checkpoints inside and outside the camp, people are searched for cameras and found equipment is subject to confiscation. Journalists are generally not allowed to enter the camp and even if they get the necessary permission, soldiers or security apparatus agents must escort them.

Al Jazeera English's resulting three-minute-long report entitled "Refugees return to Nahr al-Bared" focuses on the planned work to clear out the destroyed camp, the poor infrastructure camp residents are trickling back to find, and the camp reconstruction committee's plans to rebuild the camp in the next two years. These issues can be described as humanitarian concerns, and are indeed relevant ones that many refugees worry about, and which Al Jazeera English covers in a more or less responsible fashion.

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