Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) spokesman in the Burj al-Barajneh camp, Ahmad Mustafa, made a point of telling reporters that the armed clash inside the camp was not politically oriented and was contained by the factional leaders.

"What happened is an individual incident and has nothing to do with Fatah or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)," he stressed.

Some Lebanese media reports said two or three people were injured in the clash that started as a fight between two families, but developed into a gunbattle between rival Fatah and PFLP-GC gunmen in the camp, near the Hezbollah stronghold of the southern suburbs.

Many of the Palestinians living in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps belong to one armed Palestinian faction or another, where family fights are often linked to political affiliations and disagreements.

Friday's confrontation might have passed without fanfare had it not been for a political crisis in Lebanon, where politicians are locked in an impasse over choosing a new president to replace pro-Syrian incumbent Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on November 24.

If the Lebanese, divided between a pro- and anti-Western camp, don't reach a consensus on naming a president when Parliament meets on November 21, the country could plunge into violent clashes not unlike the bloody 1975-1900 civil war, where the PLO was among the players and the refugees among the victims.

Lebanese analysts said although Friday's clash might have been an "isolated incident," it still warns of what could happen if the Lebanese political crisis is not resolved peacefully.

Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut and expert on Palestinian affairs, told the Middle East Times: "I am afraid that this is a prelude to what might happen if the Lebanese government fails to elect a president or reach a compromise."

Khashan added that the Burj al-Barajneh clash should be taken as a "message" to the pro-Western, government backed March 14 Coalition that "if they fail to reach a consensus, this is a sample of what might happen."

The professor also linked the problem at the camp to recent statements by Ahmad Jibril, head of the pro-Syrian PFLP-GC, who said he feared the Lebanese government was preparing a scenario for Burj al-Barajneh similar to the three months of battles that raged in Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon between Islamic militants and the army, in which hundreds were killed from both sides and the camp was razed to the ground. He said that 100 militants infiltrated Lebanon to repeat the Nahr al-Bared revolt.

Jibril's comments, on Lebanese New TV, came as the Lebanese cabinet called for vigilance in the face of reports of new attempts by Islamist militants to infiltrate the country's refugee camps, "aimed at stirring up tensions between Lebanese and Palestinians."

Jibril also claimed that Fatah had brought 500 fighters to Burj al-Barajneh, Sabra and Shatilla camps – located close to the Hezbollah-held southern suburbs – and warned of a Palestinian-Lebanese confrontation.

Fatah has denied the accusation as "nonsense," especially that the camps are already overcrowded, and with the PLO's policy of maintaining peace in the camps and remaining outside the Lebanese political divisions and crisis.

In a speech on Sunday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also assured the Palestinians that his supporters enjoy "strong and good" relations with the Palestinians, stressing: "There will be no war between the camps and their neighbors."

However, Middle East experts warn that both the Palestinian and Lebanese divisions – and their alliances – could easily pull the Palestinian camps into internal fighting as well as pull the Palestinians into the Lebanese crisis if the Lebanese turn their guns against each other in the worst-case scenario.

The animosity between Fatah and Islamist Hamas, which peaked with Hamas ousting the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority from the Gaza Strip in June that led to two separate administrations in the West Bank and Gaza, has found its way inside Lebanon's refugee camps.

Reports from Beirut Friday said there was tension between the two factions in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon when Fatah prevented a Hamas demonstration.

Fatah and Hamas alliances are also closely linked to the alliances of the Lebanese opposing groups, as the Palestinians in Lebanon could find themselves siding with either side, analysts say.

Fatah and the anti-Syrian March 14 alliance are supported by the US-led West, while Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran and Syria. The PFLP-GC, though secular, is also backed by Damascus and Tehran.

Therefore, analysts say, preventing wars in Lebanon and its refugee camps largely depends on whether Washington, Tehran and Damascus genuinely want to avert bloodshed in this tiny Arab country.