17 sept 2019
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Its time to end the Israeli culture of impunity that permitted the Sabra and Shatilla massacre to happen, 35 years ago.
by Nabil Mohamad On September 16, 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the right-wing Christian Phalange militia stormed the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, in West Beirut, and began a massacre which ended in the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, of mostly Palestinian civilians. I was 19 years old, at the time. By chance and by luck, I managed to survive. My mother and five younger sisters and brothers; and my uncle, his wife and eight kids did not. Israel’s invasion began on June 6, 1982. After much destruction, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which had defended the camps since its inception, agreed to leave Lebanon in August. They were given American assurances that civilians left behind would be protected. The president-elect of Lebanon, and the leader of the Phalange, was assassinated on September 14th. The Israeli army proceeded to invade and occupy West Beirut. Israeli troops surrounded the camps to prevent the refugees from leaving and allowed entry of the Phalange, a known enemy of the Palestinians. The Israelis fired flares throughout the night to light up the killing field — thus allowing the militiamen to see their way through the narrow alleys of the camps. The massacre went on for two days. As the bloodbath concluded, Israel supplied the bulldozers to dig mass graves. In 1983, Israel’s investigative Kahan Commission found that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Minister, bore “personal responsibility“ for the slaughter. The massacre at Sabra and Shatilla was a direct consequence of Israel’s violation of the American-brokered ceasefire, and the impunity bestowed on Israel by the US and the international community. This tragic anniversary is a reminder that the international community continues to fail to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law and to defend the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. “If the international community is obliged to remedy its moral responsibility to the victims of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, by working to end Israel’s occupation and other abuses of Palestinian rights, then the lives of my family members and the others we remember on this 35th year will not have been lost in vain. ”Thirty-five years after the massacre, Israel continues to abuse Palestinian rights without consequence, and to enable the violence of its proxies, whether it is the Phalange, as in the past, or, as with today, illegal Israeli settlers living on occupied Palestinian land. Settler attacks on Palestinian property, lands, and persons have terrorised thousands, and killed families, almost in their entirety, such as last year’s arson attack on a Palestinian home which killed a mother, a father, and their 18-month baby. Palestinian complaints filed against settlers go unindicted by Israel. |
In fact, as documented by Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, “The [Israeli] military serves the settlers by allowing the attackers to simply walk away.” When they do take action, Israeli soldiers are more likely to support the settlers, often allowing them to continue attacking Palestinians, rather than shielding innocent civilians.
And, the Israeli military itself continues to commit war crimes with impunity, as evidenced by Israel’s repeated attacks on the tiny, besieged Gaza Strip, over the past decade, which have killed thousands of innocent Palestinians with disproportionate and indiscriminate force.
The dehumanisation of Palestinians by Israel also continues. It was this same dehumanisation that led Israel to allow vengeful militiamen to enter the Sabra and Shatilla camps, and that permits Israelis to occupy another people’s land for fifty years, while inflicting humiliation and injury. That indifference to the fate of the Palestinians does not belong solely to Israel.
Israel’s 69 years of dispossession and a half-century of military rule is supported by unconditional American military aid and diplomatic backing. International bodies, like the UN Security Council, have repeatedly made note of Israel’s human rights violations, but done nothing more.
A fourth generation is now growing up in the squalid refugee camps in Lebanon. In Sabra and Shatilla, most living spaces consist of two very small rooms: a bedroom, where the entire family sleeps, and a living room of sorts.
There is no ventilation, and hardly any electricity. Most families use battery-powered lighting. Drinking tap water is prohibited, as it is full of bacteria and very salty — it actually corrodes pipes. There are poor sanitary conditions. Medications for all illnesses are in short supply. Narrow alleyways — some with sewage running through — wind through the camps. When it rains, these small paths become muddy. Loose electrical wires hang down from dwellings.
Young men connect and reconnect wires; from time to time, someone is electrocuted. Foul odours emanate from those crowded conditions. Illness is rampant. The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon long to return from exile to the homeland they were expelled from, but are not permitted to do so by Israel, simply because they are not Jewish.
If the international community is obliged to remedy its moral responsibility to the victims of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, by working to end Israel’s occupation and other abuses of Palestinian rights, then the lives of my family members and the others we remember on this 35th year of remembrance will not have been lost in vain.
Nabil Mohamad is vice president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He is currently living in Washington, DC with his wife, son and daughter.
~ Al Jazeera/Days of Palestine
And, the Israeli military itself continues to commit war crimes with impunity, as evidenced by Israel’s repeated attacks on the tiny, besieged Gaza Strip, over the past decade, which have killed thousands of innocent Palestinians with disproportionate and indiscriminate force.
The dehumanisation of Palestinians by Israel also continues. It was this same dehumanisation that led Israel to allow vengeful militiamen to enter the Sabra and Shatilla camps, and that permits Israelis to occupy another people’s land for fifty years, while inflicting humiliation and injury. That indifference to the fate of the Palestinians does not belong solely to Israel.
Israel’s 69 years of dispossession and a half-century of military rule is supported by unconditional American military aid and diplomatic backing. International bodies, like the UN Security Council, have repeatedly made note of Israel’s human rights violations, but done nothing more.
A fourth generation is now growing up in the squalid refugee camps in Lebanon. In Sabra and Shatilla, most living spaces consist of two very small rooms: a bedroom, where the entire family sleeps, and a living room of sorts.
There is no ventilation, and hardly any electricity. Most families use battery-powered lighting. Drinking tap water is prohibited, as it is full of bacteria and very salty — it actually corrodes pipes. There are poor sanitary conditions. Medications for all illnesses are in short supply. Narrow alleyways — some with sewage running through — wind through the camps. When it rains, these small paths become muddy. Loose electrical wires hang down from dwellings.
Young men connect and reconnect wires; from time to time, someone is electrocuted. Foul odours emanate from those crowded conditions. Illness is rampant. The Palestinian refugees in Lebanon long to return from exile to the homeland they were expelled from, but are not permitted to do so by Israel, simply because they are not Jewish.
If the international community is obliged to remedy its moral responsibility to the victims of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, by working to end Israel’s occupation and other abuses of Palestinian rights, then the lives of my family members and the others we remember on this 35th year of remembrance will not have been lost in vain.
Nabil Mohamad is vice president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He is currently living in Washington, DC with his wife, son and daughter.
~ Al Jazeera/Days of Palestine
16 sept 2019
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Thirty-seven years ago this week, one of the bloodiest chapters in Palestinian history unfolded in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
Surrounded by Israeli forces from all sides, thousands of refugees, bereft of leadership and protection from the international community, were slaughtered during a two day killing spree in the Shatila refugee camp and the adjacent Sabra neighbourhood of Beirut by the Christian Phalangist militia, Israel’s paramilitary ally in Lebanon. When: 16–18 September 1982 What happened? |
September 15: Israeli forces, who had invaded Lebanon three months earlier, advanced into Beirut and surrounded the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila. A tenuous ceasefire agreement had already been brokered by the US to allow the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) along with more than 14,000 fighters to leave the country, which was ravaged by a civil war.
UN Security Council Resolution 520 dated 17 September was passed unanimously and condemned “the recent Israeli incursions into Beirut in violation of the cease-fire agreements and of Security Council resolutions.” Israel ignored this resolution too.
Virtually sealed off from the outside world by Israeli tanks, hundreds of Phalangist fighters — a Christian militia group inspired by European fascists — were instructed by Israeli forces to clear out PLO members from the area. What unfolded over the following day and half horrified the world.
The Phalange were archenemies of the PLO. They fought on opposite sides in the Lebanese civil war which resulted in 120,000 deaths. They also wanted to avenge the death of the newly-elected President of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel.
The Phalangists believed that Palestinians had assassinated Gemayel on 14 September — an allegation that turned out to be completely false — which proved to be fatal for the Palestinians.
In the 38 hours that the Israelis allowed the Phalange militia to enter the refugee camp unhindered, the Palestinians bunkered in their makeshift shelters suffered unspeakable horrors.
Israel’s proxy militiamen raped, tortured, mutilated and killed more than 3,000 Palestinian and Lebanese residents of Sabra and Shatila. Assisted by bright flares fired into the night sky by Israeli troops based in the sports stadium overlooking the area, the killing went on without pause.
Despite eyewitnesses reporting the horrors that were taking place, the Israeli military allowed reinforcements to enter Shatila and are even said to have provided the Phalangists with bulldozers to bury the corpses of dead Palestinians.
Determined to destroy the PLO base in Lebanon and install a puppet regime in Beirut, Israel’s then Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, turned a blind eye to what was going on. On 17 September, details of the massacre are said to have been communicated to him, but the man who would later become the Prime Minister of Israel was unmoved, allowing the killing to continue for several more hours.
What happened next?
Shock and outrage followed. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 521 unanimously, condemning the massacre. On 16 December 1982, the UN General Assembly declared the massacre to be an “act of genocide”.
Israel launched an investigation of its own on 28 September 1982 with the Kahan Commission of Inquiry. It concluded that “direct responsibility” rested with the Phalangists, and that no Israelis were deemed “directly responsible”, although Israel was held to be “indirectly responsible”.
Defence minister Ariel Sharon, however, was found to bear “personal responsibility” for “ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge” and “not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed.” He was dismissed from his position but that did little to damage his political career and he became Israel’s Prime Minister in 2001.
For the United States, which had guaranteed the safety of civilians left behind after the PLO fighters were shipped out of Lebanon, the massacre was a deep embarrassment. It caused immense damage to its reputation and led to the decision to deploy US forces in the country with disastrous results.
President Reagan ordered US Marines back into Lebanon and, just over a year later, on 23 October, 1983, 241 American servicemen were killed when two massive truck bombs destroyed their barracks in Beirut, leading Reagan to withdraw US forces for good.
For the Palestinians, the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila remains as a powerful reminder of their apparently endless cycle of displacement. It was yet another consequence of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the 1948 Nakba and again in 1967.
Around half a million Palestinian refugees are still dehumanised and insecure in their predicament in Lebanon, with few civil and political rights. They are among 5.4 million scattered across the region in squalid refugee camps which now have a disturbing sense of permanence.
UN Security Council Resolution 520 dated 17 September was passed unanimously and condemned “the recent Israeli incursions into Beirut in violation of the cease-fire agreements and of Security Council resolutions.” Israel ignored this resolution too.
Virtually sealed off from the outside world by Israeli tanks, hundreds of Phalangist fighters — a Christian militia group inspired by European fascists — were instructed by Israeli forces to clear out PLO members from the area. What unfolded over the following day and half horrified the world.
The Phalange were archenemies of the PLO. They fought on opposite sides in the Lebanese civil war which resulted in 120,000 deaths. They also wanted to avenge the death of the newly-elected President of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel.
The Phalangists believed that Palestinians had assassinated Gemayel on 14 September — an allegation that turned out to be completely false — which proved to be fatal for the Palestinians.
In the 38 hours that the Israelis allowed the Phalange militia to enter the refugee camp unhindered, the Palestinians bunkered in their makeshift shelters suffered unspeakable horrors.
Israel’s proxy militiamen raped, tortured, mutilated and killed more than 3,000 Palestinian and Lebanese residents of Sabra and Shatila. Assisted by bright flares fired into the night sky by Israeli troops based in the sports stadium overlooking the area, the killing went on without pause.
Despite eyewitnesses reporting the horrors that were taking place, the Israeli military allowed reinforcements to enter Shatila and are even said to have provided the Phalangists with bulldozers to bury the corpses of dead Palestinians.
Determined to destroy the PLO base in Lebanon and install a puppet regime in Beirut, Israel’s then Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, turned a blind eye to what was going on. On 17 September, details of the massacre are said to have been communicated to him, but the man who would later become the Prime Minister of Israel was unmoved, allowing the killing to continue for several more hours.
What happened next?
Shock and outrage followed. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 521 unanimously, condemning the massacre. On 16 December 1982, the UN General Assembly declared the massacre to be an “act of genocide”.
Israel launched an investigation of its own on 28 September 1982 with the Kahan Commission of Inquiry. It concluded that “direct responsibility” rested with the Phalangists, and that no Israelis were deemed “directly responsible”, although Israel was held to be “indirectly responsible”.
Defence minister Ariel Sharon, however, was found to bear “personal responsibility” for “ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge” and “not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed.” He was dismissed from his position but that did little to damage his political career and he became Israel’s Prime Minister in 2001.
For the United States, which had guaranteed the safety of civilians left behind after the PLO fighters were shipped out of Lebanon, the massacre was a deep embarrassment. It caused immense damage to its reputation and led to the decision to deploy US forces in the country with disastrous results.
President Reagan ordered US Marines back into Lebanon and, just over a year later, on 23 October, 1983, 241 American servicemen were killed when two massive truck bombs destroyed their barracks in Beirut, leading Reagan to withdraw US forces for good.
For the Palestinians, the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila remains as a powerful reminder of their apparently endless cycle of displacement. It was yet another consequence of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in the 1948 Nakba and again in 1967.
Around half a million Palestinian refugees are still dehumanised and insecure in their predicament in Lebanon, with few civil and political rights. They are among 5.4 million scattered across the region in squalid refugee camps which now have a disturbing sense of permanence.
17 sept 2018
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In press releases published yesterday, September 16, 2018, Dr. Saeeb Erekat said that the Sabra and Shatila Massacre is a reminder of Israel’s barbaric crimes.
Erekat added, according to the PNN, that the massacre of Sabra and Shatila is not only a reminder of the barbaric crimes committed against the Palestinian people. but, overall, it highlights the effects of the impunity granted to Israel and its officials by the international community. The main responsibility of the massacre fell on Ariel Sharon, who was also responsible for many other war crimes committed against the people of Palestine. Sharon died without being held accountable, Erekat said. Erekat also said : ”The International Criminal Court should take note of the role of 70 years of impunity that Israel has enjoyed despite its colonization and Apartheid policies that constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes.” Erekat ended his statement by saying that Israel continues to threaten the very existence of the Palestinian people on their land with evictions, home demolitions, the siege of Gaza, forcible transfer in occupied East Jerusalem, Khan Al-Ahmar, on the eastern gateway to Jerusalem, and elsewhere in occupied Palestine. The Sabra and Shatila massacre was an incident which involved the killing of between 460 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by a militia close to the Kataeb Party, also called Phalange, a |
predominantly Christian Lebanese right-wing party in the Sabra neighborhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon.
From approximately 18:00, on 16 September, to 08:00, on 18 September, 1982, a widespread massacre was carried out by the militia, under the eyes of their Israeli allies.
The Phalanges, allies to the Israeli army, were ordered by to clear out Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters from Sabra and Shatila, as part of Israeli maneuvering into West Beirut.
Israeli forces received reports of some of the Phalangist atrocities in Sabra and Shatila, but did nothing to stop them.
In June of 1982, the Israeli army had invaded Lebanon with the intention of rooting out the PLO. By mid-1982, under the supervision of the Multinational Force, the PLO withdrew from Lebanon following weeks of battles in West Beirut, and shortly before the massacre took place.
Various forces — Israeli, Phalangist and, possibly, also the South Lebanon Army (SLA) — were in the vicinity of Sabra and Shatila at the time of the slaughter, taking advantage of the fact that the Multinational Force had removed barracks and mines that had encircled Beirut’s predominantly Muslim neighborhoods and kept the Israelis at bay, during the Beirut siege.
The Israeli advance over West Beirut in the wake of the PLO withdrawal, which enabled the Phalangist raid, was considered a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the various forces.
The Israeli army surrounded Sabra and Shatila and stationed troops at the exits of the area to prevent camp residents from leaving and, at the Phalangists’ request, fired illuminating flares at night.
From approximately 18:00, on 16 September, to 08:00, on 18 September, 1982, a widespread massacre was carried out by the militia, under the eyes of their Israeli allies.
The Phalanges, allies to the Israeli army, were ordered by to clear out Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters from Sabra and Shatila, as part of Israeli maneuvering into West Beirut.
Israeli forces received reports of some of the Phalangist atrocities in Sabra and Shatila, but did nothing to stop them.
In June of 1982, the Israeli army had invaded Lebanon with the intention of rooting out the PLO. By mid-1982, under the supervision of the Multinational Force, the PLO withdrew from Lebanon following weeks of battles in West Beirut, and shortly before the massacre took place.
Various forces — Israeli, Phalangist and, possibly, also the South Lebanon Army (SLA) — were in the vicinity of Sabra and Shatila at the time of the slaughter, taking advantage of the fact that the Multinational Force had removed barracks and mines that had encircled Beirut’s predominantly Muslim neighborhoods and kept the Israelis at bay, during the Beirut siege.
The Israeli advance over West Beirut in the wake of the PLO withdrawal, which enabled the Phalangist raid, was considered a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the various forces.
The Israeli army surrounded Sabra and Shatila and stationed troops at the exits of the area to prevent camp residents from leaving and, at the Phalangists’ request, fired illuminating flares at night.
15 sept 2018
Hamas on Saturday, on the 36th anniversary of Sabra and Shatila massacre, called for prosecuting Israeli leaders responsible for the crime at international courts.
In a statement released by Hamas's Office for Refugees Affairs, the movement said that Sabra and Shatila massacre is part of an endless series of atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.
Hamas affirmed that the heinous massacre will never be forgotten with the passing of time, and that the international community has responsibility for bringing Israeli leaders to international courts.
Hamas called on the Lebanese government to show solidarity with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by granting them civil, economic, and social rights.
It also urged friends of Palestinian people all over the world to support them against US attack on the refugees issue by cutting aid to UNRWA.
Saturday marks the 36th anniversary of Sabra and Shatila massacre at the hands of the Israeli occupation army, a militia close to Lebanon's Kataeb party and the South Lebanon Army.
The number of victims in this appalling massacre ranges between 750 and 3,500, most of whom are unarmed civilians, including women, children, and elderly people. video video
In a statement released by Hamas's Office for Refugees Affairs, the movement said that Sabra and Shatila massacre is part of an endless series of atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians.
Hamas affirmed that the heinous massacre will never be forgotten with the passing of time, and that the international community has responsibility for bringing Israeli leaders to international courts.
Hamas called on the Lebanese government to show solidarity with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by granting them civil, economic, and social rights.
It also urged friends of Palestinian people all over the world to support them against US attack on the refugees issue by cutting aid to UNRWA.
Saturday marks the 36th anniversary of Sabra and Shatila massacre at the hands of the Israeli occupation army, a militia close to Lebanon's Kataeb party and the South Lebanon Army.
The number of victims in this appalling massacre ranges between 750 and 3,500, most of whom are unarmed civilians, including women, children, and elderly people. video video
One might say that the Palestinians are touching their old wounds by remembering their tragedies, and wars and crimes committed against them. However, their ancestors always repeat a proverb that applies to them “Sorrow is never forgotten.”
Despite the passing of 36 years since the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, it is still deeply rooted in the minds of the older generation that passed the story of what happened to to their children to tell them that their ancestors, fathers, mothers and brothers were massacred by the Israeli forces and the Lebanese militias in one of the worst massacres in the Palestinian history.
The massacre left doctors and journalists broken after they inspected what the Israeli-sponsored massacres against the poorest refugee camp in Lebanon Shatila, and the Lebanese neighborhood of Sabra, which took place just two days after the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Jemayel. He was the leader of the right-wing militias that collaborated with the Israeli forces which occupied southern Lebanon in 1982.
Order of the massacre
On the night of ‘Black Thursday,’ as the Palestinians and the Lebanese call it, the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (then war minister) ordered the encirclement of Sabra and Shatila camps in preparation for committing one of the most heinous massacres in modern history.
As the night of September 16, 1982 drew, the Israeli occupation forces and Isolationist Groups: (the Lebanese Phalangist and the Southern Lebanese Army), began advancing through the southwestern alleyways of the camp facing Acre Hospital, and spread all over its streets, taking full control of it.
For three days, the Isolationist Groups and Israeli soldiers carried out horrific massacres against the unarmed inhabitants of the camp, making it one of the ugliest massacres perpetrated throughout human history, according to an eyewitness.
After the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the Israeli forces allowed doctors and media in. They were shocked by what happened and what they saw of ugly scenes of cut off bellies and slaughtered necks and dead bodies in the streets.
Post-massacre
Figures on the number of victims of the heinous massacre vary, but estimates suggest that between 750 and 3,500 men, women and children, were killed in less than 48 hours on September 16 and 17, 1982, out of the 20,000 inhabitants of Sabra and Shatila at the time.
The whole world was shocked by the massacre; the Israeli government tried to comply with pressures and formed a commission of inquiry. Sharon was charged with responsibility for the massacre, but he denied its occurrence. He rejected the accusations and resigned from his position as war minister and returned years later to take the position of Israel’s Prime Minister!
In addition to these victims, there were hundreds of missing persons, and others whose bodies were found on the roads from Beirut to the south, which were occupied by Israel. The Israelis kidnapped several hundred Palestinian refugees who were transported in trucks to unknown destinations.
Despite the passing of 36 years since the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, it is still deeply rooted in the minds of the older generation that passed the story of what happened to to their children to tell them that their ancestors, fathers, mothers and brothers were massacred by the Israeli forces and the Lebanese militias in one of the worst massacres in the Palestinian history.
The massacre left doctors and journalists broken after they inspected what the Israeli-sponsored massacres against the poorest refugee camp in Lebanon Shatila, and the Lebanese neighborhood of Sabra, which took place just two days after the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Jemayel. He was the leader of the right-wing militias that collaborated with the Israeli forces which occupied southern Lebanon in 1982.
Order of the massacre
On the night of ‘Black Thursday,’ as the Palestinians and the Lebanese call it, the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (then war minister) ordered the encirclement of Sabra and Shatila camps in preparation for committing one of the most heinous massacres in modern history.
As the night of September 16, 1982 drew, the Israeli occupation forces and Isolationist Groups: (the Lebanese Phalangist and the Southern Lebanese Army), began advancing through the southwestern alleyways of the camp facing Acre Hospital, and spread all over its streets, taking full control of it.
For three days, the Isolationist Groups and Israeli soldiers carried out horrific massacres against the unarmed inhabitants of the camp, making it one of the ugliest massacres perpetrated throughout human history, according to an eyewitness.
After the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the Israeli forces allowed doctors and media in. They were shocked by what happened and what they saw of ugly scenes of cut off bellies and slaughtered necks and dead bodies in the streets.
Post-massacre
Figures on the number of victims of the heinous massacre vary, but estimates suggest that between 750 and 3,500 men, women and children, were killed in less than 48 hours on September 16 and 17, 1982, out of the 20,000 inhabitants of Sabra and Shatila at the time.
The whole world was shocked by the massacre; the Israeli government tried to comply with pressures and formed a commission of inquiry. Sharon was charged with responsibility for the massacre, but he denied its occurrence. He rejected the accusations and resigned from his position as war minister and returned years later to take the position of Israel’s Prime Minister!
In addition to these victims, there were hundreds of missing persons, and others whose bodies were found on the roads from Beirut to the south, which were occupied by Israel. The Israelis kidnapped several hundred Palestinian refugees who were transported in trucks to unknown destinations.
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