US President-elect Donald Trump's plan for a wall along the US-Mexico border isn't the only one raising controversy these days.

Construction began — and halted — last month on a wall at Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army said the 6-foot-tall cement wall, which is intended to help keep terrorists and criminals from passing into and out of the camp, supposedly had the approval of senior Palestinian faction officials. But construction stopped when condemnation arose from numerous quarters.

Residents of the camp and some Palestinian factions staged a demonstration last week, rejecting the idea of encircling and isolating the camp from its surroundings, turning it into “one big prison.” They also deny longstanding claims that the camp threatens Lebanon’s security, and allegations that about 200 extremists from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and the Islamic State (IS) reside inside the camp’s neighborhoods. But the camp has a history of widespread, deadly infighting among various factions.

Informed security sources told Al-Monitor that the security situation has been deteriorating in the camp since 2013. There have been dozens of clashes between some radical groups and Palestinian factions, and dozens of killings. In 2014, Minister of Interior and Municipalities Nouhad al-Machnouk said, “It is no longer acceptable that the camp remains a hotbed where fugitives flee from justice.”