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For Immediate Release<br>
16 September 2004<br><br>
Twenty-two years later, Sabra and Shatila Calls for Justice
Endure<br><br>
September 16, 2004 marks the 22nd anniversary of the killing of thousands
of<br>
Palestinian and Lebanese residents of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
in<br>
Beirut Lebanon. Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition
joins<br>
Palestinians everywhere as we commemorate one of the bloodiest massacres
in<br>
recent history.<br><br>
On 6 June 1982, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon with the full backing
and<br>
support of the United States of America. A few days later, the
invading<br>
army besieged West Beirut for two-months before the US, France and
Italy<br>
intervened with a plan to evacuate Palestinian resistance fighters
from<br>
Lebanon. This occurred under the auspices of a multinational force on
August<br>
21 which was sent to oversee the departure, and to protect
Palestinian<br>
refugees. However, in a sudden and inexplicable move, the
multinational<br>
force withdrew by early September claiming its mission was
accomplished.<br><br>
On September 15, Israeli forces invaded West Beirut in a clear violation
of<br>
the evacuation agreement agreed upon by the Palestinian resistance and
the<br>
US. A day later, Ariel Sharon ordered entry of the Lebanese Forces
(a<br>
right-wing, Phalangist militia with a long history of close relations
with<br>
Israeli governments) and the South Lebanon Army (Israel's proxy
militia<br>
in Southern Lebanon) into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps,
which were<br>
completely sealed off by Israeli tanks. When the militiamen entered on
the<br>
evening of September 16, the only resistance they were faced with was
from<br>
lightly-armed young boys, the Ashbaal (lion cubs).<br><br>
For the next 38 hours, aided by material support from Israel's
army,<br>
including flares at night, Israel's proxy militiamen raped,
tortured,<br>
mutilated and killed, in cold-blood, thousands of Palestinian and
Lebanese<br>
residents of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Already on September
17, a<br>
day into the massacre, eye-witness reports of the killings were
circulating.<br><br>
Yet, the Israeli military allowed even more Phalange militiamen into
the<br>
camp, an provided them with bulldozers to plough and bury the
corpses.<br>
Israeli commanders, including General Amos Yaron, the Israeli
commander in<br>
Beirut, were stationed on the rooftop of a seven-story building 200
meters<br>
from Shatila, with a clear view of the camps below. The Phalangist<br>
intelligence also had radio communication with militiamen on the ground.
By<br>
the morning of September 17, evidence that a massacre was taking place
was<br>
communicated to Israeli Chief of Staff, Raphael Eitan, who then approved
a<br>
request that the Phalangists remain in the camps until 5:00 am
Saturday.<br><br>
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than
2,750<br>
Palestinian men, women and children were massacred in the Sabra and
Shatila<br>
camps in Beirut while the city was occupied by the Israeli army. The
main<br>
war criminal bearing legal responsibility for the massacre is then
Israeli<br>
Minister of Defense, General Ariel Sharon. Israel's official Kahane<br>
Commission concluded that Ariel Sharon was "personally
responsible" for the<br>
Sabra and Shatila massacre.<br><br>
Although the massacre was classified by the United Nations as a war
crime,<br>
Ariel Sharon has not yet been brought to trial for his horrific war
crimes<br>
against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.<br><br>
Sabra and Shatila will continue to haunt Palestinians and the
international<br>
community alike until the perpetrators of the massacres are brought
to<br>
justice, until the forced and continuing exile of millions of
Palestinians<br>
is ended, and until Palestinian refugees achieve their right to return
to<br>
their homes and lands of origin in Palestine and from which they
were<br>
expelled.<br><br>
________________________________<br><br>
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition<br>
PO Box 131352<br>
Carlsbad, CA 92013, USA<br>
E-mail: info@al-awda.org<br>
WWW:
<a href="http://www.al-awda.org/" eudora="autourl">http://www.al-awda.org<br>
</a>Fax: 1-802-609-9284<br><br>
<br><br>
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