[News] 28 Years Later: Sabra and Shatila Massacre

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Reham Alhelsi – 28 Years Later: Sabra and Shatila Massacre

By 
<http://palestinethinktank.com/author/reham-alhelsi/>Reham 
Alhelsi • Sep 16th, 2010 at 20:48
http://palestinethinktank.com/2010/09/16/reham-alhelsi-28-years-later-sabra-and-shatila-massacre/


28 years ago, one September day, after playing 
with my siblings and friends in our land, we 
returned home with joy in our hearts. We were 
very happy and rushed to tell my parents of our 
plan to go on a “picnic” the following day with 
our friends. My father looked at us and said 
calmly: no, there will be no picnic tomorrow. My 
parents were sitting in front of the TV, both 
unusually quiet, my father’s eyes looked 
troubled, my mother had tears in her eyes. The 
house was silent, dead silent, except for the 
screams coming from the TV. I looked at the TV 
and saw the same images over and over: dead 
bodies 
. dead bodies 
. dead bodies
.

28 years ago, I saw images of butchered 
Palestinians, piled up like sacks one over the 
other. I saw images of murdered men, women, 
children and elderly filling the streets. I saw 
women crying and shouting and cursing. I saw Sabra and Shatila.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila, 
look at the images of the martyred victims. I 
memorize the 3500 names of those tortured to 
death, of those butchered. I read out loud the 
testimonies of those who survived the atrocities. 
I think of their pain, their suffering and of 
their fear. I think: 62 years of murder, 62 years 
of terror, 62 years of Zionism occupying Palestine and threatening humanity.

28 years ago, I understood for the first time 
what it means to mourn, what it feels like to 
lose someone, how much it hurts to see someone 
lying in their blood, hear the stories of the 
their last minutes, listen to the screams of 
those who survived. We sat in our living room in 
occupied Palestine and saw the images of all 
those men, women and children, lying dead in the 
streets. It was like waking up from a dream, and 
realizing that for you, as a Palestinian, there 
was no place for picnics, no place for happiness 
as long as other Palestinians were being 
murdered, that there is no place for happiness as 
long as Palestine is still occupied. These 
Palestinians did not live in Palestine, they were 
far away from us, but they were part of us. They 
were far away, in places called Sabra and 
Shatila. It was the first time that I hear of 
these places and since then these two names never 
left me. They were far away from their homeland, 
far away from Palestine, and we in Palestine, 
mourned them, cried for them and felt the pain of 
those who survived. They were the brothers far 
away from home, the sisters we never met, the 
cousins we heard of, the family that is an 
extension of every family in Palestine. They were 
the branches that were forcibly cut off of the 
olive tree. They were the roots that were 
snatched away from our mother Palestine.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila. I 
remember that Palestinians are targeted 
everywhere. I think of those among us steadfast 
in our land refusing to leave despite the daily 
Zionist terror, and think of those in the 
Diaspora dreaming and waiting for the return. We 
are the parts that make Palestine full; we are 
one body and when one part of Palestine bleeds, 
all of Palestine bleeds. I remember every 
massacre and every crime committed against the 
Palestinians. And despite the hopes, the wishes 
and aims of the Zionists, every massacre, every 
drop of Palestinian blood, every cry of a 
Palestinian child makes us stronger, more 
steadfast, more resolute to fight the occupation 
and the oppression. With every massacre and with 
every crime we grew closer and stood as one; one 
body aching for freedom. With every massacre and 
with every crime we cry for every victim of 
oppression, we go to the streets for every martyr 
and every wounded and every prisoner, we protest 
every injustice and demand our legitimate rights. 
It is our unity that makes us strong, a blood 
bond that not the Zionist entity, not the US, not 
even the treacherous Palestinians could break.

28 years ago, I realized that Palestinian 
refugees, wherever they might be, whether in 
Dheisheh, Balatah, Shu’fat or Khan Younis, 
whether in Shnellar, Ein Il-Hilweh or Yarmouk, 
are a threat to the Zionist entity because they 
expose its lie of a “land without a people for a 
people without a land”. I understood that the 
Right of Return is a threat to the Zionist entity 
that is a usurper entity based on racism, ethnic 
cleansing and terror. I realized that Jrash, Deir 
Aban and Zakariya are names the Zionist entity 
wants deleted from the memory of humanity as it 
deleted them from the map of the world.
28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila and 
think of Palestinian babies born every day. These 
babies are a threat to the Zionist entity because 
with every Palestinian baby the Zionist myth of 
“there is no such thing as Palestinians” crumbles 
and falls, with every Palestinian baby the 
Zionist dream of ethnically cleansing Palestine 
is destroyed, with every Palestinian baby the 
road to Haifa, Yafa and Al-Jalil becomes shorter 
and with every Palestinian baby Palestine grows stronger.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila and 
I think of all the collaborators and the 
sell-outs who want to “negotiate” our legitimate 
rights, who want to exchange the Right of Return 
for more dollars and euros to fill their 
over-sized Swiss bank accounts and who want to 
sell out Palestine for more “power” in their 
“mini-bantustan” aka Al-Muqata’a Ash-Sharifa. To 
them we say: the Right of Return is inalienable 
and there is no peace without justice, and there 
is no justice without the return of all Palestinian refugees.

28 years ago, I understood that the Arab betrayal 
that caused our Nakba and allowed a Zionist 
usurper entity to be established in the heart of 
the Arab world and on the dead bodies of 
Palestinians is still a strong ally of Zionism 
and a partner in dictatorship, racism and denying 
equal rights. I understood that the Arab betrayal 
that allowed the Sabra and Shatila massacre to 
happen is still joining forces with the usurpers 
to devour what is left of Palestine, to 
ethnically cleanse and remove off the face of the 
earth anything with the name “Palestinian”.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila, and 
think of the Arab regimes who still betray 
Palestine through their alliance with the Zionist 
entity. They continue to betray Palestine every 
time they shake the hands of Zionist war 
criminals, they betray Palestine every time they 
allow Zionists to enter their lands, they betray 
Palestine every time they encourage normalization 
with the Zionist entity, they betray Palestine 
every time they refuse to boycott Zionism and its 
products. And the Arab peoples still betray 
Palestine through their silence which makes them 
indirect accomplices. The millions over millions 
of Arab people betray Palestine every time their 
remain in their homes while millions all over the 
world go out to the streets to protest Zionist 
terror, they betray Palestine every time they 
“condemn” Zionist terror on facebook and twitter 
while others all over the world start solidarity 
groups, and initiate boycott movements, they 
betray Palestine every time they meet with 
Zionists with lame excuses such as to “discuss 
peace” and “hear the other side” thus siding with 
the oppressor and equating the occupier with the occupied.

The millions over millions of Arabs betray 
Palestine and themselves and their children every 
time they say “our leaders won’t allow us” while 
millions and millions of peoples throughout the 
history took their destiny in their own hands and 
liberated themselves from tyranny and dictatorship.

28 years ago, I saw the blood flowing in the 
streets of Sabra and Shatila mix with the blood 
of Deir Yasin, with the blood of Kufr Qasim, with 
the blood of Qibya, Ish-Sheikh, Ad-Dayameh, 
Sharafat, As-Sammou’, and countless many more. I 
saw men and women scattered on the ground. I saw 
children, like me, with no limbs and no heads. I 
saw horrors that were the “trademark” of Zionism. 
And I saw the fear, I saw the anger and I saw the 
resolution. I saw Palestine bleeding and I cried.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila, and 
think of the Palestinian blood shed by the 
Zionists in Oyoun Qarra, Al-Aqsa, in Al-Ibrahimi, 
in Jenin, in Jabalia, in Gaza. Palestine is still 
bleeding, cries, awaits us to stand up again as 
one against the occupiers and their accomplices. 
Palestine asks us to stay loyal to the blood of 
Sabra and Shatila and all the innocent victims, 
never to forget, and to lead the way to Safsaf, Majd Il-Krum, Amka and Yajour.

28 years I saw Palestinians become Lebanese and 
Lebanese become Palestinians. I saw both united 
against one enemy; Zionism which is the enemy of 
all humanity. I saw Palestinians and Lebanese 
neighbours living near each other, living 
together and living for each other. I saw 
Palestinians and Lebanese neighbours as it always 
was: Palestine hugging Lebanon and Lebanon 
hugging Palestine until Zionism torn them apart. 
I saw Palestinians and Lebanese blood mingle and 
become one: the blood of the innocent victims of Zionism.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila, and 
think of what was and what is. I think of the 
Palestinian refugees who lost their homes and 
their lands, who were forced out of Palestine and 
who were butchered wherever they went. I think of 
Palestinian refugees who have only one home to 
which they want to return, who have only one 
identity to define them: the Palestinians of 
Palestine. But until the day of the return; don’t 
they deserve to be treated like humans?

28 years ago, I saw the victims of Sabra and 
Shatila and understood that murderers who kill 
civilians know no “peace”; that killers who 
butcher children don’t want “peace” and that only 
resistance is the way to Haifa, Yafa and Akka, 
that only through resistance will we liberate 
Palestine, only through resistance will Palestine 
be one again; from the river to the sea.

28 years later and after some 20 years of useless 
“negotiations” between those who don’t represent 
us and those who butcher us, I remember Sabra and 
Shatila and every single massacre committed by 
the Zionists and their accomplices. I remember 
every single child, woman and man killed for the 
sake of Zionism. I remember every village, every 
town and every refugee camp that was ethnically 
cleansed, destroyed, bulldozed or bombed in the 
name of Zionism. I remember those who refused to 
sell their conscience, their honour and their 
land; I remember those who chose Palestine. And I 
remember those who shook the hands of the killers 
of our people, I remember those who 
“acknowledged” our killers, signed “treaties” 
with them and called them “our partners in 
peace”; I remember those who sold Palestine. And I will never forget.

28 years ago, I, a child, sat in my bed in the 
middle of one September night in 1982, the images 
of the dead children filling my little head, the 
cries of the survivors echoing in my ears, tears 
swimming in my eyes, and swore to remain loyal to 
the innocent souls of Sabra and Shatila, to 
remain loyal to Palestine. I swore never to forget, never to forgive.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila, and 
I haven't forgotten, nor have I forgiven. The war 
criminals still walk freely, they are welcomed in 
every Arab country, they are hugged and kissed by 
those who claim they represent us.

28 years later, I remember Sabra and Shatila and 
I will never forget those who, while Palestinians 
were being butchered by Zionists, went to have 
dinner with the war criminal Sharon in his ranch 
built on usurped Palestinian land.

And 28 years ago, I cried for the victims of 
Sabra and Shatila and dreamt of freedom, of 
liberation and of the return of all refugees to 
their homes so they can bury their dead and dry 
their tears and plant olive trees where Zionism tried to kill the land.

28 years later, we commemorate Sabra and Shatila; 
commemorate the souls of the innocent civilians 
butchered in a most horrific manner by the 
Zionist terrorists and their accomplices and 
watch as another set of accomplices meet with the 
same Zionist usurpers to sell our legitimate rights and our land.

28 years later, the tears of Sabra and Shatila 
haven't dried yet. The blood of Sabra and Shatila 
still flows in every alley and every street of 
every Arab country that welcomes a Zionist war 
criminal. The screams of Sabra and Shatila still 
resound in every alley and every street of every 
Arab country that welcomed a Zionist war criminal.

28 years later, and 10227 days after Sabra and 
Shatila Palestine is still occupied by the 
Zionists and their accomplices. Palestinian blood 
is still being spilled for the sake of Zionism. 
Palestine is still usurped, besieged and faces 
daily ethnic cleansing and terror.
28 year later, Sabra and Shatila appeals to us, adjures us never to forget!

28 years later; our people are still steadfast in 
Palestine, the refugees still cling to the Right 
of Return and Resistance is still the only way 
for a free Palestine from the River to the Sea.

© 
<http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com>http://avoicefrompalestine.wordpress.com




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