Lebanese and Palestinian leaders appealed to the international community to fund the reconstruction of a destroyed Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, as a donor conference opened in Vienna on Monday. "We have to rebuild the camp, but also to rebuild relationships between Lebanese and Palestinians," Lebanese premier Fouad Siniora said in his statement quoted by DPA. The Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon was largely destroyed in summer of 2007, when Lebanese government units fought extremists who had taken control of the camp. Around 33,000 refugees were evacuated before fighting began. "We cannot afford to bear the additional burdens", Siniora said in his appeal for international funds to reconstruct a new town for 27,000 refugees, complete with schools, health facilities and UN infrastructure. Rebuilding Nahr al-Bared is estimated to last one and a half years at a cost of 282 million dollars, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). "The incidents in Nahr al-Bared camp confirm that the basic pillar for resolving issues of extremism and terrorism at the regional and international level requires an urgent and just resolution to the Palestinian question," Palestinian Premier Salam Fayad said. Representatives from 70 states are attending the one-day meeting co-hosted by the Austrian government.
