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DATE=10/03/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PALESTINIANS / LEBANON (L-O)

NUMBER=2-267407

BYLINE=EDWARD YERANIAN

DATELINE=BEIRUT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Tens-of-thousands of Palestinian refugees demonstrated (Tuesday) in Beirut and several refugee-camp strongholds in southern Lebanon in a show of solidarity with fellow Palestinians in the occupied territories. One Palestinian military commander close to Yasser Arafat is also threatening to resume guerilla operations against Israel if fighting in the West Bank and Gaza continues. Edward Yeranian reports from Beirut:

TEXT: Palestinian refugees burned Israeli and American flags inside the Ain Heloue refugee camp near the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, in the largest such demonstration in a number of years.

Demonstrators also burned cardboard figures of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the leader of the opposition Likud party, Ariel Sharon, in effigy. Several-hundred Palestinian guerilla fighters, wearing army fatigues, and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and grenade launchers remained in the forefront of the large cortege of demonstrators.

Palestinian guerilla commander Colonel Munir al Maqdah, with close ties to P-L-O Leader Yasser Arafat, told the French Press Agency that his men would - in his words - start using their arms if Israel continues to massacre civilians with missiles fired from helicopters.

A number of elderly Palestinian women carrying photos of the 12 year-old Mohammed Jamal al Dourra, who died as he and his father crouched beside a wall in Gaza, wept silently. More than 10-thousand Palestinian refugees also participated in a symbolic funeral for the boy, inside Rachidieh refugee camp, near the Lebanese port city of Tyre.

In Beirut, nearly 20-thousand Palestinians and Lebanese, carrying flags and photos of the young boy, gathered in front of Beirut's United Nations House, demanding that justice be done. More than 300-thousand Palestinian refugees live across Lebanon in a dozen refugee camps. (SIGNED)

NEB/EY/GE/RAE