[News] Twenty-two years later, Sabra and Shatila Calls for Justice Endure

[News at freedomarchives.org]

For Immediate Release
16 September 2004

Twenty-two years later, Sabra and Shatila Calls for Justice Endure

September 16, 2004 marks the 22nd anniversary of the killing of thousands of
Palestinian and Lebanese residents of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in
Beirut Lebanon. Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition joins
Palestinians everywhere as we commemorate one of the bloodiest massacres in
recent history.

On 6 June 1982, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon with the full backing and
support of the United States of America.  A few days later, the invading
army besieged West Beirut for two-months before the US, France and Italy
intervened with a plan to evacuate Palestinian resistance fighters from
Lebanon. This occurred under the auspices of a multinational force on August
21 which was sent to oversee the departure, and to protect Palestinian
refugees. However, in a sudden and inexplicable move, the multinational
force withdrew by early September claiming its mission was accomplished.

On September 15, Israeli forces invaded West Beirut in a clear violation of
the evacuation agreement agreed upon by the Palestinian resistance and the
US. A day later, Ariel  Sharon ordered entry of the Lebanese Forces (a
right-wing, Phalangist militia with a long history of close relations with
Israeli governments) and the South Lebanon Army (Israel's proxy militia
in Southern Lebanon)  into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which were
completely sealed off by Israeli tanks. When the militiamen entered on the
evening of September 16, the only resistance they were faced with was from
lightly-armed young boys, the Ashbaal (lion cubs).

For the next 38 hours, aided by material support from Israel's army,
including flares at night, Israel's proxy militiamen raped, tortured,
mutilated and killed, in cold-blood, thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese
residents of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Already on September 17, a
day into the massacre, eye-witness reports of the killings were circulating.

Yet, the Israeli military allowed even more Phalange militiamen into the
camp, an provided them with bulldozers to plough and bury the corpses.
Israeli  commanders, including General Amos Yaron, the Israeli commander in
Beirut, were stationed on the rooftop of a seven-story building 200 meters
from Shatila, with a clear view of the camps below. The Phalangist
intelligence also had radio communication with militiamen on the ground. By
the morning of September 17, evidence that a massacre was taking place was
communicated to Israeli Chief of Staff, Raphael Eitan, who then approved a
request that the Phalangists remain in the camps until 5:00 am Saturday.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 2,750
Palestinian men, women and children were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila
camps in Beirut while the city was occupied by the Israeli army. The main
war criminal bearing legal responsibility for the massacre is then Israeli
Minister of Defense, General Ariel Sharon. Israel's official Kahane
Commission concluded that Ariel Sharon was "personally responsible" for the
Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Although the massacre was classified by the United Nations as a war crime,
Ariel Sharon has not yet been brought to trial for his horrific war crimes
against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.

Sabra and Shatila will continue to haunt Palestinians and the international
community alike until the perpetrators of the massacres are brought to
justice, until the forced and continuing exile of millions of Palestinians
is ended, and until Palestinian refugees achieve their right to return to
their homes and lands of origin in Palestine and from which they were
expelled.

________________________________

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
PO Box 131352
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA
E-mail: info at al-awda.org
WWW: http://www.al-awda.org
Fax: 1-802-609-9284





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