BEIRUT (AFP) — Exiled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal called on Monday for dialogue to resolve the volatile situation in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
"We have called for the launch of a Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue to discuss all the problems of Palestinian camps, Ain el-Helweh or others," Meshaal said in Beirut, referring to Lebanon's most populous and volatile camp.
"Addressing these problems should be conducted through dialogue and under the umbrella of sovereignty of law and the Lebanese state," he added.
Meshaal, who lives in Damascus, met Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri and said he would also meet Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah as well as parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.
"We will not export our differences in Palestine to Lebanon, which has its own (differences)... especially after the return to a reasonable situation in Lebanon," Meshaal said.
Lebanon is home to an estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees who reside in 12 camps throughout the country.
More than 400 people, including 168 soldiers, were killed in a 15-week battle in the northern Nahr al-Bared camp last year before the Lebanese army defeated Islamists holed up there.
Extremists believed to have links with Al-Qaeda have settled in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps, especially in Ain el-Helweh which has a population of more than 45,000.
The Lebanese army does not enter the camps, leaving responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.
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