Kenneth Baitsholts is right that the world should remember the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. The problem is that no one can remember or be expected to remember anything that they know nothing about.
Lebanon was embroiled in a civil war from 1975-1990. In the simplified version, Lebanon’s Muslims and leftists supported the militant Palestinian Liberation Organization headquartered in Beirut and sought more political power for themselves; its Christians, seeking to maintain their political dominance, were the opposition — the Christians in power in the north and the Muslims in the south. Fearing an expanded war, both Israel and Syria intervened on the side of the Christians. In 1982, Israel invaded southern Lebanon to destroy Palestinian guerrilla bases and successfully drove the PLO from the capital city. Without PLO protection, the refugees were completely vulnerable.
Beginning on Sept. 16, 1982, Christian Lebanese militia operating under the direction of Israeli forces massacred, wounded, and left homeless thousands of defenseless men, women and children in the camps. The indiscriminate killing was carried out methodically over the course of two days until the morning of Sept. 18. By the end of this dayslong campaign of violence and terror, at least 1,200 Palestinian civilian refugees had been murdered.
During the massacre, Israeli forces were in full control of the area in which the camps were located. They allowed the militants into the camps, blocked exits, preventing refugees from fleeing for their lives, and lit the night sky with a continuous series of flares as the killing raged on.
An independent commission established by the United Nations concluded that the Israeli authorities were responsible in the massacres, and that the intention behind the massacre was “the deliberate destruction of the national and cultural rights and identity of the Palestinian people.” The Christian militias were committing the crime while the Israeli troops were allowing it to happen.
This incident did not receive the media coverage it deserved. And closer to home, shouldn’t Mayor Dave Bronson be removed from office for his callous mishandling of the homeless crisis?
— Ken Green
Cooper Landing
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