The Sabra and Shatila Massacres A Scar in Palestinian Collective Memory 17 September. 2001 Palestine Media Center - PMC http://www.palestine-pmc.com September 16th 1982 is a day whose horrific memories forever scared the Palestinian People's collective memory. The Israeli army and its ally, the Lebanese Phalangist militia (Lebanese force armed by and closely allied with Israel since the onset of Lebanon's civil war in 1975) stormed the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Southern Beirut on that day. Approximately three thousand unarmed Palestinian refugees, men, women and children, were then savagely butchered. On 6 June 1982, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon in what was dubbed operation "Peace for Galilee" by the Israeli army. The Israeli government initially declared its intention to enter only 40 km into Lebanese territory. Nevertheless, Mr. Ariel Sharon, the then Israeli Minister of "Defense", had a more ambitious scheme in mind. After having occupied Southern Lebanon and destroyed Palestinian and Lebanese residences there, Israeli troops proceeded to penetrate as far as Beirut. By 18 June 1982, the Israeli troops had surrounded the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) armed forces. Lebanese statistics reported that the Israeli invasion of Beirut, particularly the shelling of Beirut neighborhoods, had cost 18,000 deaths and 30,000 injuries, most of whom were civilians. Eventually, after two months of fighting, a ceasefire was negotiated under American intervention. It was agreed that the PLO would leave Beirut under the supervision of a multinational force. The PLO had completed its evacuation by 1 September 1982. On 10 September 1982, the multinational forces left Beirut. Thousands of Palestinian refugees remained in Lebanon. The following day, Mr. Sharon was quick to announce that "2000 terrorists" were still present in the Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. Consequently, on 15 September, the Israeli army occupied West Beirut and imposed a siege around the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, inhabited only by unarmed Palestinian civilians. As Minister of "Defence", General Sharon took direct responsibility for directing the Israeli army. By 16 September 1982, West Beirut was under Israeli control. The Israeli military spokesperson announced in a press release that day, "The refugee camps, including the concentrations of terrorists, are surrounded and closed". The following statement was also issued by the army high command: "The searching and mopping up of the camps will be done by the Phalangists/Lebanese army". At first, Israeli aggression was marked by intensive shelling of the camps from high locations as well as shooting at civilians in the streets. The Israeli Military Command then gave the Phalangist militia the green light to penetrate the camps. The Phalangist militia raped, killed and injured thousands of unarmed Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps and neighboring homes. According to Law Society, a leading Palestinian human rights non-governmental organization, General Drori informed Mr. Sharon in a telephone call, "Our friends are advancing into the camps. We have coordinated their entry". Mr. Sharon then replied, "Congratulations! Our friends' operation is approved". Until the morning of Saturday 18 September 1982, the Israeli army had not yet intervened. Instead, they prohibited civilians from escaping and arranged for the camps to be lit up during the night by flares sent into the sky from helicopters. According to Israeli figures, the number of victims varies between 700 and 3500. The exact figure, however, will never be established. This is because a large number of victims were either buried under bulldozed buildings or sent away by trucks to unknown destinations. On 19 September 1982, The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 521, condemning the massacres. Moreover, on 16 December 1982, The UN General Assembly condemned the massacres as an "act of genocide". However, the victims of these horrible massacres never received any judicial instruction. In late September 1982, the Israeli Knesset appointed a commission of inquiry supervised by Mr. Yitzhak Kahan, President of the Israeli Supreme Court. The Commission concluded that Mr. Sharon was personally responsible for the massacres of Sabra and Shatila, despite the limitations of the commission's mandate. "It is impossible to justify the Minister of 'Defence's' disregard of the danger of a massacre. Responsibility is to be imputed to the Minister of 'Defense' for having disregarded the danger of acts of vengeance and bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps, and having failed to take this danger into account when he decided to have the Phalangists enter the camp", The Commission concluded on 7 February 1983. Consequently, Mr. Sharon resigned from his post only to remain Minister with out a portfolio. He also held various Cabinet posts in the years to follow, culminating in his election as Prime Minister in February 2001. Vital pieces of information and evidence were brought forward by a number of non-official inquiries. Among those were the Macbride and the Nordic Commission, based primarily on eyewitness testimonies, and historic and media research. Nadima Yousef Said Nasser, who resided in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the massacres, described her personal suffering, "I went out of the shelter, and I saw armed men who were putting the men against the walls. I saw a neighbor; they tore open her stomach. Some women came out of the house opposite and started waving her scarf around, saying, "We must give ourselves up." Suddenly I heard my sister shouting, "They've cut his throat!" I thought that my parents had been killed. I rushed to see them, carrying my daughter. They killed my sister's husband in front of me. I went up, I saw them shooting at the men. They killed them all. I fled. My other daughter stayed with her father. The armed men left, taking the men out of the shelter. My husband was among them. On entering the camp a Lebanese woman came; she had seen my husband holding my [other] daughter. She saw how my husband was killed by a Phalangist, with the blow of an axe to his head. My daughter was covered in blood. The man gave her to the Lebanese woman, who came back to the camp and gave her to some relatives of mine. I fled to Gaza hospital. When they entered the hospital, I escaped a second time". Mrs. Said Nasser lost her husband, her father-in-law, three of her husband's nephews and five other relatives. Numerous international, Palestinian, and Arab human rights organizations have called for Ariel Sharon's prosecution for war crimes. These organizations cite Article 146 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that each High Contracting Party "shall be under the obligation to search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to be committed" grave breaches of the Convention, "and shall bring such persons, regardless of their nationality, before its own courts". Article 147 of the Convention states that these breaches include "willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person.or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly". Currently, serious efforts are underway in Belgium to prosecute Ariel Sharon for his responsibility in the Sabra and Shatila massacres. Under a 1993 Belgian law, any national can bring a case to Belgian courts against a person alleged to have participated in grave human rights violations. More than 23 survivors of the 1982 massacres have brought the case to the attention of a Belgian investigative court. If the Belgian Judge decides to press charges against Ariel Sharon, an international arrest warrant would be served in his name, despite his position as the current Prime Minister of Israel. ------------------------ Yahoo! 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