Honolulu Star-Bulletin · Honolulu, Hawaii · 21 September 1982

CP-1982-013

Questions from Shatila and Sabra

A Washington Post editorial, reprinted, beside an editorial cartoon of an Israeli tank sinking in Lebanese quicksand

From the Washington Post

Transcribed from the clipping

"The gunmen appear to have been drawn from the ranks of the largely Christian militia of Maj. Saad Haddad, the renegade Lebanese officer set up as a fireforce by the Israelis some years ago, and the Christian Phalangist militia, also with Israeli ties, that was commanded, until his recent assassination, by Bashir Gemayel." And: "THE ISRAELIS, however, cannot avoid their own measure of responsibility... By their invasion they made themselves accountable for its consequences... At the least, it appears, their entry created the conditions in which the massacre took place." The editorial also faults its own trade: the administration "and, for that matter, much of the American press — were slow throughout the week to perceive the dangers of the Israeli slice into West Beirut."

Context added by this archive

The clearest contemporaneous statement of the distinction: Lebanese Christian militia did the killing; Israel created the conditions and is accountable.

Cite this item

"Questions from Shatila and Sabra," Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 21 September 1982. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1982-013. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1982-013

Elsewhere in the archive

• Jews Against GenocideThe Post-Standard · 29 June 1982 · the same year
• Jordan no Palestine state, Hussein saysThe Plain Dealer · 3 August 1982 · the same year
• 'Palestine' still a knotty issueThe Register-Guard · 2 September 1982 · the same year