------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Feb. 7, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
AS SHARON FACES WAR CRIMES CHARGES: STAR WITNESS KILLED BY CAR BOMB By Richard Becker On the day after he reaffirmed his intention to testify in court to first-hand knowledge of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's war crimes, Elie Hobeika was blown to bits. A huge, remotely detonated bomb killed Hobeika and his three bodyguards and started fires in the Hazmiyeh district of Beirut, Lebanon. A statement from a previously unknown group, "Lebanese for a Free and Independent Lebanon," took responsibility for the Jan. 24 bombing. No one believed it for a minute. Although many people had ample and justified reasons to despise Hobeika, the timing of his assassination turned accusing fingers all over the Middle East and Europe toward Israel and its intelligence services. What made Hobeika, who shared with Sharon a virulent hatred of the Palestinians, such a danger to his former patron and boss? Elie Hobeika was the commander of the Lebanese Forces during Lebanon's civil war and at the time of Israel's massive 1982 invasion of that country. HOBEIKA'S FORCE HATED MUSLIMS The Lebanese Forces (LF) were a fascist militia, directly armed and supported by Israel--and more indirectly by the U.S. The LF was connected to the Phalangist Party, named after General Franco's ruling fascists in Spain. The Phalangists and the LF, mainly composed of extreme right- wing Christians, admired Adolph Hitler and hated Lebanese Muslims and all Palestinians. The LF was infamous for its atrocities against civilians. It operated like the Ku Klux Klan of Lebanon, with Hobeika as Grand Wizard. In June 1982, the Israeli military (IDF), with total backing from the Reagan regime, launched a massive invasion of Lebanon. The objectives of the invasion were to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), then mainly based in Lebanon, and install a puppet government in Beirut. For the entire summer of that year, the IDF mercilessly bombed the Lebanese capital, killing more than 20,000 people, the vast majority civilians. In September 1982, a ceasefire agreement was forced upon the Lebanese and Palestinians resisting the assault. Palestinian refugees made up more than 10 percent of Lebanon's population of 3 million at the time. Under the agreement, PLO military forces would be evacuated to Tunisia. In return, the safety and security of the Palestinian refugee camps would be guaranteed. Among the signers of this agreement were the governments of both Israel and the United States. The security guarantee was critical, because it was well known to all parties that the Lebanese Forces and other fascist militias would butcher the now-unprotected camps if given half a chance. By Sept. 16, with the PLO fighters gone, the IDF had completely surrounded the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in west Beirut. The remaining inhabitants of the camps were nearly all women, children or elderly men. However, Ariel Sharon, then Israel's defense minister, along with the Israeli commanders on the ground declared that they believed there were still PLO fighters hiding in the camps. Using this pretext, the Israelis allowed the Hobeika- commanded LF to enter the Palestinian camps to "clean up." A WEEKEND OF HORROR A weekend of unimaginable horror ensued. The LF first went door-to-door, forcing the terrified inhabitants out into the streets and dividing them into groups. Shortly after they entered the camps, an LF commander radioed Hobeika, who was in the presence of Israeli officers. The LF commander asked Hobeika what he should do next, to which Hobeika responded angrily, shouting over his radio: "Never ask me such a stupid question again!" (BBC documentary on Sabra and Shatila and many other sources) The slaughter then began in earnest. For the next 36 hours, the LF raped, tortured and slaughtered, wiping out nearly the entire population of more than 2,000 Palestinians and Lebanese living in Sabra and Shatila. Israeli officers and cabinet ministers, including Ariel Sharon--who as defense minister bore overall responsibility for the occupation of Lebanon--were repeatedly informed of what was going on. When the Israelis finally instructed Hobeika to pull the LF forces out late on Sept. 17, the LF asked for, and received, a one-day extension to "finish their work." Once the hideous images of the Sabra and Shatila massacre were flashed around the world, the anger and revulsion were so great that even Israel had to set up an official commission of inquiry the following year. The Kahan Commission found Sharon "indirectly responsible" for the massacre. He was forced to resign as defense minister, although not from the Israeli cabinet. Massacring Palestinians--and 1982 was neither Sharon's first nor last massacre--is no bar to even the highest office in Israel, as Sharon's current post irrefutably demonstrates. HOBEIKA'S TESTIMONY THREATENED SHARON Sharon wants the world to forget his blood-stained history. And the U.S. government, which was more than complicit in Lebanon--after all, the U.S. supplied the planes, tanks and guns for the 1982 invasion--has developed total amnesia on the subject. The U.S. is only interested in prosecuting leaders of other countries as "war criminals" when they don't follow Washington's script. But the world, and particularly the survivors of the massacre, have not forgotten Sabra and Shatila. Several Palestinian survivors and family members of victims have brought a criminal case against Sharon in Belgium. Belgium last year passed a law allowing its courts to hear cases of alleged crimes against humanity wherever they are or were committed. On Jan. 23 Hobeika, who was directly in touch with Sharon and other Israeli officers throughout the 1982 massacre, affirmed that he would go to Brussels to testify in the case. The next day, he was dead. Hobeika's testimony threatened Sharon and his government, as well as the interests of Washington. The Bush administration has aligned itself extremely closely with Sharon in his intensified war against the Palestinians. Reportedly, Hobeika taped his testimony before his death. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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