Lebanon’s army has received three batches of weapons from Palestinian camps in less than two weeks, in coordination with the Palestinian National Security forces, a move hailed by the government as highly symbolic and potentially precedent-setting. But the handovers have been met with derision on social media and deep skepticism among Palestinian factions themselves.

The weapons were surrendered from Burj al-Barajneh camp in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Shatila camp, and the al-Buss camp in Tyre. It marked the first such transfers since 1969, when the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser brokered a deal granting the Palestine Liberation Organization legitimacy to launch attacks against Israel from Lebanese territory.

A Hamas source told Annahar newspaper that most factions, including Hamas and Fatah, opposed the decision, with the exception of the wing loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“That wing’s popularity is declining by the day,” the source said. “Factions have made it clear that their right to bear arms is linked to the sacred right of return. This does not contradict our respect for Lebanese sovereignty, but these weapons can only be used against Israel.”

The source rejected suggestions that the move was a staged performance aimed at convincing the international community that disarmament was under way.

“It is true that Mahmoud Abbas’s wing in Fatah handed over weapons, but these are neither the bulk of Palestinian arms nor even the bulk of Fatah’s stockpiles,” the source said. “Everyone knows Fatah’s largest stronghold is in Ain al-Hilweh camp in Sidon. Why weren’t those arms surrendered? Is it not because there is deep disagreement within Fatah’s leadership about the idea of giving up weapons?”

The process has also exposed rifts within the Palestine Liberation Organization itself. As the first batch was delivered from Burj al-Barajneh, a senior Fatah official told several media outlets that the PLO and Fatah had agreed to hand over all heavy weapons to the Lebanese state in exchange for greater social, economic and civil rights for Palestinian refugees. But at the same time, Palestinian National Security chief Major General Sobhi Abu Arab told reporters the weapons delivered to the army were “new arms that had only recently entered the camp, not the existing weapons inside.”