Sabra and Shatila: from who fired to who knewFrom who fired to who knew, in five days · September 1982
September 1982
Sabra and Shatila: from who fired to who knew
Sabra and Shatila were two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, built for people driven out of Palestine in 1948 and lived in ever since; by 1982 they held tens of thousands and sat inside a city under Israeli military control. The killing there was done by Lebanese Christian militiamen, and American papers said so at the time.
They printed the rest of it too. Those militias had been armed and set up by Israel years before. Within a week the question in these pages had moved from who pulled the triggers to which Israeli commanders knew, and when. Israel’s own commission of inquiry spent months taking evidence. Survivors told reporters that Israeli soldiers were inside Shatila while the killing went on.
“Arab refugees massacred. Stench of death rises from rubble.”
The Morning Union. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution and the Abilene Reporter-News carry it the same morning, the Abilene under “Sabra Camp Eyewitness.”
CP-1982-011“Papers say Israel knew of massacre. Government denies advance knowledge.”
The News Tribune, from the AP in Jerusalem. Israeli newspapers report that Begin’s government knew for at least thirty-six hours and took no action. “Though the government knew on Thursday night,… it didn’t raise a finger nor did it do anything to prevent the massacre until Saturday morning.”
CP-1982-012“Questions from Shatila and Sabra.”
A Washington Post editorial, reprinted in Honolulu. It names the killers precisely: the militia of Maj. Saad Haddad, “set up as a fireforce by the Israelis some years ago,” and the Christian Phalangist militia, “also with Israeli ties.” Then: “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.”
CP-1982-013“Sabra and Shatila: Where Israel Got Its Wish.”
Richmond Times-Dispatch. The following day the Stamford Advocate runs “From My Lai to Sabra-Chatilla”: “What needs to be established clearly is precisely which Israeli leaders knew what and when.”
CP-1982-015“U.S. Nurse Tells Israelis Of Sabra Camp Massacre.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Ellen Segal, an American Jewish nurse, volunteers testimony to Israel’s commission of inquiry because she “can’t sleep at night.” Three weeks later the Sun reports an Israeli soldier whose identification tags were found inside Sabra testifying that he was never there.
CP-1982-022“Survivors: Israelis watched massacre.”
Philadelphia Inquirer, from the AP in Beirut. Three Palestinian women — Ektefa Shallah, her daughter Jamila, 16, and their neighbor Amenah Khalifa — contradict the official testimony. The same sentence states who did the killing: “the slaughter Sept. 16-18 by Lebanese Christian militiamen.”
CP-1982-024Israel’s own Kahan Commission reached the same place the following February, finding Israel indirectly responsible and the defense minister, Ariel Sharon, personally responsible. He resigned the post.