Lebanese and Palestinian negotiators have announced agreement on measures to prevent a new out break of fighting between the army and commandos.

After day-long discussions at the new Melkart Hotel on Thursday (17 May) Mr Abdul Zaim, chief Palestinian delegate on the Higher Joint Peace-Keeping Committee told reporters that the two aides had ended their work " in complete understanding."
He said that there would be no more meetings of the committee, which comprised three commando leaders, three Lebanese army officers and two Lebanese legal advisers.

The provisions of the agreement will remain secret, but local newspapers have said that the main points at issue concern the future status of the fifteen Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The Lebanese authorities have been seeking to re-establish some kind of police presence in the camps, which have been under commando control for the past three years. They have also sought to limit the amount of heavy arms held by the commandos inside the camps.

The crisis began on May 2nd when the Lebanese army and the commandos began fighting. The present ceasefire was reached on 8 May after two previous ones had collapsed in violent fighting in which several hundred troops, security men commandos, and Lebanese and Palestinian civilians were killed or wounded.