Sabra and Shatila Massacre, 30 years later

Declassified Documents Shed Light on a 1982 Massacre

Thirty years ago, a massacre occurred in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The following declassified documents reveal conversations between high-level American and Israeli officials before, during and after the event. These English-language documents were released by the Israel State Archives in Jerusalem earlier this year.

[It includes the statement (first doc, page 2) “We are outraged by the shot fired on a Marine on American Embassy property by an Israeli colonel”]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/16/opinion/20120916_lebanondoc.html?ref=opinion



Protestors marking Lebanon massacre clash with soldiers

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Five people were injured on Monday in clashes at Qalandia checkpoint between Israeli soldiers and protestors commemorating the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, witnesses said. Dozens of young men marched towards Qalandia checkpoint to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the massacre, with Israeli soldiers firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd as it approached the crossing, witnesses said. Demonstrators responded by throwing rocks and empty bottles at the soldiers.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=521042

Israel refuses to release official documents about Sabra and Shatila massacre Officials at Israel’s national archive have refused requests from journalists to have access to documents relating to the 1982 massacre in the Palestine refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon, Haaretz newspaper said on Sunday. The massacre in the two camps was perpetrated by the Phalangist Christian militia, which was under the political and military control of Israel. The killing spree was allegedly in retaliation for the assassination of the Phalange leader Bashir Gemayel, who was the Lebanese president at the time. Israel had invaded Lebanon ostensibly to flush out the PLO from its stronghold in Beirut. The archive material, say officials, includes security information being held by the Israeli Defence Forces, as well as details of the Kahan Commission which investigated the massacre. The latter is still “secret” and unable to be released into the public domain.

Details emerge of US role in Sabra-Shatila massacre Israel duped the United Stated into believing that “thousands of terrorists” remained in west Beirut following the expulsion of Palestinian fighters 30 years ago, providing cover for the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, according to recently declassified Israeli documents. The documents include verbatim transcripts of meetings between US and Israeli officials before and during the three-day massacre led by the right-wing Lebanese Christian Phalange militia that left roughly 2,000 people dead, mostly children, women and elderly men. “[The transcripts] reveal that the Israelis misled American diplomats about events in Beirut and bullied them into accepting the spurious claim that thousands of “terrorists” were in the camps,” The New York Times, which obtained the documents, reported.

By allowing the argument to proceed on Mr. Sharon’s terms, Mr. Draper effectively gave Israel cover to let the Phalange fighters remain in the camps. Fuller details of the massacre began to emerge on Sept. 18, when a young American diplomat, Ryan C. Crocker, visited the gruesome scene and reported back to Washington. Years later, Mr. Draper called the massacre “obscene.” And in an oral history recorded a few years before his death in 2005, he remembered telling Mr. Sharon: “You should be ashamed. The situation is absolutely appalling. They’re killing children! You have the field completely under your control and are therefore responsible for that area.” On Sept. 18, Reagan pronounced his “outrage and revulsion over the murders.” He said the United States had opposed Israel’s invasion of Beirut, both because “we believed it wrong in principle and for fear that it would provoke further fighting.” Secretary of State George P. Shultz later admitted that “we are partially responsible” because “we took the Israelis and the Lebanese at their word.” He summoned Ambassador Arens. “When you take military control over a city, you’re responsible for what happens,” he told him. “Now we have a massacre.” But the belated expression of shock and dismay belies the Americans’ failed diplomatic effort during the massacre. The transcript of Mr. Draper’s meeting with the Israelis demonstrates how the United States was unwittingly complicit in the tragedy of Sabra and Shatila. Ambassador Lewis, now retired, told me that the massacre would have been hard to prevent “unless Reagan had picked up the phone and called Begin and read him the riot act even more clearly than he already did in August — that might have stopped it temporarily.” But “Sharon would have found some other way” for the militiamen to take action, Mr. Lewis added. Nicholas A. Veliotes, then the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, agreed. “Vintage Sharon,” he said, after I read the transcript to him. “It is his way or the highway.”

The lesson of Sabra and Shatila??

“The lesson of the Sabra and Shatila tragedy is clear. Sometimes close allies act contrary to American interests and values.” Of all the lessons, you came up with this one? That the lesson of the whole story of the article? Were you reading your own article or some brochure of the State Department?

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-lesson-of-sabra-and-shatila.html

The Struggle for Rachel Corrie’s Legacy, Patrick O. Strickland – Ramallah

Two weeks ago, an Israeli court ruled that the death of Rachel Corrie, a Palestinian solidarity activist crushed by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) armored bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, was her own fault and not the result of military negligence. Brendan O’Neill, blogging for The Telegraph, wrote a scathing critique of Rachel Corrie, her posthumous supporters, and the broader Palestinian solidarity movement.

http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19579

Charity Economics, Subservient Politics: Why Oslo Must Go, Ramzy Baroud

Recent demonstrations in protest of the rising cost of living have swept across the West Bank. While they are not indicative of a Palestinian version of the ‘Arab Spring’, they are still an important first step. A reasonable demand, however, cannot possibly be for Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the government of Salam Fayyad. Neither has much sway over Palestinian economy, let alone political will. Abbas enjoys Israeli and Western backing because of his ability to manage – if not sustain – a factional split between his party, Fatah, and Hamas, which controls Gaza. He remains faithful to security coordination between his authority and Israel, and continues to crack down on his opponents with an iron fist. He is also desperately clinging to a loyalty to Washington policy – despite the fact that the latter’s prestige and influence is quickly diminishing in the region. In an era of numerous political possibilities, Abbas, 76, is fervently traditional, lacking in nerve and by no means capable of revolutionary change. Recent demonstrations in protest of the rising cost of living have swept across the West Bank. While they are not indicative of a Palestinian version of the ‘Arab Spring’, they are still an important first step. A reasonable demand, however, cannot possibly be for Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the government of Salam Fayyad. Neither has much sway over Palestinian economy, let alone political will. Abbas enjoys Israeli and Western backing because of his ability to manage – if not sustain – a factional split between his party, Fatah, and Hamas, which controls Gaza. He remains faithful to security coordination between his authority and Israel, and continues to crack down on his opponents with an iron fist. He is also desperately clinging to a loyalty to Washington policy – despite the fact that the latter’s prestige and influence is quickly diminishing in the region. In an era of numerous political possibilities, Abbas, 76, is fervently traditional, lacking in nerve and by no means capable of revolutionary change.

www.TheHeadlines.Org