38 Years after the Massacre: Remembering Sabra and Shatila

September 16, 2020 Articles, Features
On September 16, in 1982, several thousand Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon were brutally massacred. (Photo: File)

On this day, September 16, in 1982, several thousand Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon were brutally massacred by the Lebanese phalange militias at the behest of the Israeli military, which had besieged and bombarded the area for days. 

The massacre took place during Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, soon after the Israeli occupation army, under the leadership of late Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, had occupied the Lebanese capital, Beirut. 

Working closely with Lebanese militants, the Israeli army allowed the militias access to the camps and, knowing fully that civilians were being massacred inside the camps, the Israeli military prevented any Palestinian from escaping. 

The massacre claimed the lives of at least 3,000 Palestinian refugees. 

For three days of constant killings, the Israeli military continued its siege and prevented international humanitarian workers and journalists from entering. At night, Israeli soldiers fired flares to keep the night sky lit so as to allow the militiamen to see their way through the narrow alleys of the camps.

The massacre went on from September 16-18.

As the bloodbath concluded, Israeli bulldozers began the task of digging mass graves with the hope of concealing the extent of the crime. 

In 1983, Israel’s Kahana Commission found that Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Defense Minister at the time, bore “personal responsibility” for the slaughter of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.

The massacre at Sabra and Shatila was a direct consequence of Israel‘s violation of the American-brokered ceasefire and the impunity bestowed on Israel by the United States and the international community to do as it pleases in occupied Lebanon. 

This massacre, as well as other massacres against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, went unpunished by the international community.

(The Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)

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