Remembering Sabra and Shatila
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Ariel Sharon said recently he regretted the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila, but asked if he would apologise he replied "To apologise for what?" -- Fergal Keane, in "The Accused", BBC-Panorama, 17/6/2001 -- check here for more
On September 15 , 1982, “Sharon authorized entry of what were presumed to be members of Gemayel's Lebanese Forces (a Phalangist milita) and Saad Haddad's South Lebanon Army into the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, home to 30,000 Palestinians and some Lebanese. The camps were completely sealed off by Israeli tanks. When the militiamen entered on Thursday evening, September 16, the only resistance they encountered was from a few lightly-armed young boys.
For the next 38 hours, aided by Israeli flares at night, the militiamen raped, tortured, mutilated and massacred civilians. IDF personnel, including General Amos Yaron, IDF Commander in Beirut, were stationed on the rooftop of a seven-story building 200 meters from Shatilla, with a clear view of the camps below. Also there were members of the Phalangist intelligence who had radio communication with militiamen on the ground. By Friday morning, evidence that a massacre was taking place was communicated to Israeli Chief of Staff, Raphael Eitan, but he approved a request that the Phalangists remain in the camps until 5:00 am Saturday. The militiamen finally left the camps at 8:00 am.
The exact number of those who were killed is not certain. On September 22, the International Red Cross gave a figure of 2400, but the militiamen had buried some bodies before evacuating, and sources among both Phalangists and Palestinians claimed that at least 3000 people were killed or unaccounted for. Among the dead, none could be identified as members of any PLO military unit.
The massacre was a wild suspension of law and morality, and the interesting normative questions concern the scope and degree of responsibility……………………” read more
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3 comments:
It’s indeed one of the most horrible and unbelievable acts of the Israeli troops. How could a human be so heartless?
Yet, apparently, we tend to forget. It saddens me how some Arabic and Islamic countries have decided to engage with Israel just because they withdrew from Ghaza:(
Your are right,$ilver girl.
The way some media, particularly those sponsored by Arab regimes, are portraying the Israeli withdrawal fro Gaza is mindless. Sharon is portrayed as 'a man of peace'! (Just as Bush described him).
We need not be surprised if the Noble Prize for Peace is awarded to Sharon, the butcher of Beirut, just as it was awarded to Perez, the butcher of Qana.
What is worse is that the withdrawal from Gaza could also be used to justfy the next wave of normalisation with the Sharon government.
Will our own Bahraini government, come October, be be one of 'pioneers' in the expected 'initiatives' to award Sharon for leaving Gaza while keeping the rest of Palestinian Territories under occupation?
I hope our government will refrain from joining the pack. I am afraid, it will.
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