Israeli Boats Bombard Palestinian Refugee Camps in South Lebanon

Israeli gunboats fired more than 70 rockets Thursday into two Palestinian refugee camps already devastated by 11 days of fighting between their guerrilla defenders and Shia Muslim militiamen, Lebanese police reported.

At least one Palestinian was killed and two were wounded in the nearly two-hour Israeli barrage. Police said the rockets struck the Ein el Hilwa and Miye ou Miye camps in Lebanon’s port city of Sidon, 25 miles south of Beirut.

Palestinian guerrilla positions in hills overlooking the two shantytowns also were hit, they said.

In Tel Aviv, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces confirmed the shelling.

“Gunboats of the Israeli navy bombarded terrorist target south of Sidon this morning. The targets which were attacked included positions and fortifications of various terrorist organizations. None of the gunboats were hit and they returned safely,” the spokesman said.

Guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Organization, apparently pinned down in fighting Shia militiamen, did not return fire Thursday, according to reports from Sidon.

It was Israel’s third attack on targets in Sidon in as many weeks.

Police said six people were killed and 10 wounded in mortar and rocket duels between the PLO and militiamen of the mainstream Shia Amal movement in and around Maghdousheh, three miles southeast of Sidon.

In Beirut, 15 people were killed and 60 wounded in PLO-Amal fighting around the Palestinian refugee camps of Chatilla and Borj el Brajne, they said.

The Shia Muslim movement fought Israel’s June, 1982, invasion of Lebanon, but Amal and Israel now have a common goal--to prevent the PLO from rebuilding the power base it lost during the invasion.

Amal fears a PLO comeback would provoke Israeli reprisals against the predominantly Shia Muslim south. Israel seeks to prevent the PLO from using south Lebanon as a base for attacks on its northern settlements.

Amal-Palestinian fighting appeared stalemated Thursday, two days after the Palestinians repulsed a tank-led Amal assault on Chatilla.

Police said 75% of the camp has been destroyed. Chatilla usually is home to 14,000 refugees, but hundreds of families have fled.

Amal buried two militiamen Thursday who were killed in an overnight grenade attack on one of its West Beirut offices. Police said seven Amal offices were struck, and one police source called the attacks a “repercussion” of the Amal-PLO confrontation.