Palestinian factions at refugee camps in Lebanon continue to hand over weapons to the Lebanese army, as part of an initiative aimed at transforming camps into civil societies.

Last week, some weapons were handed over at the Burj al-Barajneh camp, and more camps followed on Thursday.

Only one pickup truck loaded with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades left Burj al-Barajneh last week, leading many to dismiss the initiative in the Palestinian camps as ineffective or purely symbolic.

But the head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government body that serves as an interlocutor between Palestinian refugees and officials, rejected criticism of the extent of the handover so far.

Ramez Dimashkieh insisted that the government was serious about following through, and pointed out that any weapons handed over were now in the possession of the Lebanese army, adding: “We should be happy about that.”

The initiative could lead to more legal rights for Palestinian refugees in the country, with Dimashkieh saying work was underway on legislation to improve the situation for around 200,000 refugees.

The proposed laws would enhance labor and property rights but not grant citizenship.

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are not given citizenship, ostensibly to preserve their right to go back to the homes they fled or were forced from during the 1948 creation of the state of Israel, which now bans them from returning.

They are prohibited from working in many professions, have few legal protections and can’t own property.

The 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon aren’t under the control of Lebanese authorities, and rival Palestinian factions have clashed inside the camps in recent years, inflicting casualties and affecting nearby areas.

In the Ein el Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon, rounds of fighting between members of Abbas’s Fatah movement and rival Islamist factions in 2023 killed around 30 people, wounded hundreds and displaced thousands.

The fighting also left the schools in one of two school complexes in the camp run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees heavily damaged.

While UNRWA is not involved in the disarmament effort currently underway, the head of its operations in Lebanon said she hoped that the handover of weapons would lead to "a situation of safety and security and stability with a functioning civil administration.”

The step of removing weapons from the camps was widely seen as a precursor to the difficult step of disarming the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which last year fought a bruising war with Israel.

The group has been under domestic and international pressure since to give up its remaining arsenal, which it has so far refused to do.

AP video by Fadi Tawil and Imad Haddad

Production by Abby Sewell