The Palestine Liberation Organization said on 10 Dec, after a meeting with Lebanese officials, that they would not surrender the tens of thousands of firearms held by the 350,000 Palestinians in refugee camps in Lebanon until there was peace in the region. The spokesman pointedly did not say "peace with Israel". The PLO complains that Lebanese security forces have the Palestinian refugee camps in a virtual state of siege, but the Lebanese deny this and insist that the camps are in fact "islands of lawlessness".--Stephen V Cole

December 20;  Israel made air attacks on unidentified "anti-Israeli"  positions in southern Lebanon after  guerillas shelled Israeli positions in south Lebanon the day before.