beirut refugee camp massacre

In other cases, what appeared to be entire families had been slain as they sat at the dinner table. ''They said we had to march with them. This was also where the northern Israeli perimeter around the camps was situated. A Witness Corroborates Account. They were all subsequently executed, including the mother and baby. He said there were also some patients in their rooms. According to Col. Marcel Prince, the Lebanese Army Surgeon General, as well as medical workers, those people whose bodies were found toward the southern entrance of Shatila were killed at random while other appeared to have been lined up against walls and shot. Yet at 4:30 P.M. they were told that they could stay in the camps until Saturday morning. Personnel. The dead could not speak up, and the survivors needed my voice. Residents in the camp say the sky was aglow most of the night. At this meeting, a Phalangist ''entry into the camps was mentioned,'' according to Mr. Sharon's later account to the Israeli Parliament. Her message was simple: If you are a Palestinian, you would be well advised to run for your life, toward Israeli lines and Hamra Street. What happened next was probably the most controversial decision taken by the Israeli high command, save for sending the Phalangists into the camps in the first place. Three weeks later, on 15 September, 1982, Israeli tanks were allowed to overrun Beirut. In Israel, Prime Minister Menachem Begin rejected the idea of an independent judicial commission of inquiry into the Israeli involvement in the massacre. It was to prevent such bloody incidents, according to Mr. Salam, a key figure in the talks, that the Moslem and Palestinian representatives insisted that United States, Italian and French troops be deployed in West Beirut until the Lebanese Army was prepared to take over the enforcement of law and order. The massacre of more than 300 Palestinian and Lebanese men, women and children at the Shatila refugee camp by Christian militiamen has left many unanswered questions. These signs, spray-painted on walls, have a round circle with a triangle inside and the letters ''M.P.'' Too many people were killed on the spot. 1982: Refugees massacred in Beirut camps. Shatila camp was established in 1949 and is located in Beirut, east of the Sports City stadium, falling within the municipality of Ghobeiri. ''Shortly after that we went down to the shelter,'' the doctor said, ''and found that one of the Palestinian nurses down there had been raped repeatedly and then shot.'' gone and French, United States and Italian peacekeeping troops in place, the Lebanese Army began to deploy its forces all over West Beirut and in the southern suburbs, where the Palestinian Fakhani district and refugee camps are situated. Found insideOriginal, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. With people running to get out of the path of the militiamen, it was natural that many would seek refugee in the Sabra refugee camp, farther north, toward the Gaza Hospital. On Sept. 11, both the Shatila and Sabra camps were quiet and, according to residents, there was no apprehension over the prospect of the Lebanese Army moving in. When each member of the medical team had had his or her identity papers checked by the militiamen, they were allowed to cross the street to the Israeli lines, where they were given fruit, food and water and released. What happened to some of them is not known. Something around noon Thursday, General Drori, having received another negative response from the Lebanese Army to his request that it move into the camps, met with the commander of the Phalangists. All that is certain is that there was an explosion and some of the men were killed and injured. Then, Mr. Sharon said, information began to arrive about the killings in the Shatila camp. During the talks on ending the Israeli siege of Beirut, P.L.O. None of them could walk. But this did not happen. Written by Dr. Swee Chai Ang. Mr. Sharon said the 81-milimeter flares were requested by the Phalangists to light their way. Some Phalangist militiamen are known to favor black berets. For the most part, the Lebanese Army's deployment in West Beirut and the adjacent suburbs went smoothly. Found inside... into Israel ' s role in the COMMISSION September massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in TAKES TESTIMOBeirut , Nov . 8 . One story is that a grenade was thrown into the group; another, that someone stepped on an unexploded cluster-bomb shell near the stadium. He said they started to molest one of the Lebanese nurses, whose name was Friyal. The Asian doctor said that in addition to himself, the only medical personnel left behind at Akka Hospital were five Palestinian staff members and six foreign nurses. The available evidence suggests that the operation was not halted on Friday, but that it may have been slowed down somewhat. On Friday afternoon, with the sound of gunfire seeming to get closer to the school where they were hiding. On that Saturday morning, a reporter arrived at the sport stadium and observed the men, apparently from Sabra and Shatila sitting under the concrete stadium tier. But the Phalangists were not the only Christian militiamen moving out of the airport Thursday afternoon. ''The one he was speaking to answered that the Israelis are going to ask about all the people in Shatila so why not give them to them and say they are from Shatila,'' Zaki said. Whether in Shatila, in Gaza, onboard the Freedom Flotilla Al-Awda to Gaza, in Israeli prison or being deported, I want my life to be an acceptable tribute to the Palestinians. A few miles away, around 9 A.M., the first outsiders were entering Shatila and discovering the bodies. Children were born and grew up in the long, dark shadow of the massacre, and there was no hope of returning to Palestine. Umm Aref fled from Palestine to Lebanon. diplomatic mission there, established in 1964 and fully recognized by the Lebanese Government. Among those who ran were Taleb Alouki, the carpenter from Shatila, and his brother Fawzi. It seemed almost as though life in West Beirut was about to return to what passes for normal here. "I thought, it's OK I'm here, it's because I did the right thing.". "I told him I saw a woman shot in the hand who said Haddad men were k illing people," Zaki recalled. The Massacre. Elsewhere, there were wrappings from Israeli chocolate wafers on the ground, as well as remants of United States Army C-rations. They are the symbol of the Phalangist military police. BEIRUT. However, they contend that these men never left the airport area. At 2 P.M. Friday, a different group of militiamen came, wearing different uniforms, according to the Asian doctor. Mr. Sharon said General Drori ordered the Israel Defense Forces to stay out of the Shatila camp so that it ''would not be linked to the events that occurred there.''. An Order to Halt Operation. By Global Research News. Their parents grew up during the 15-year Lebanese civil war and witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacre of 1982: in just two days, Lebanese Christian militiamen slaughtered up to 3,000 residents of the two camps. Above the narrow streets hangs a tangle of high-voltage cables that sometimes carry no power for up to 16 hours a day. By now it was well known in the camp that the area was surrounded by Israeli forces. the Alouki brothers and the others decided to make a run for Corniche Mazraa and the Israeli lines. Third, the Israeli Army began to learn on the evening of Thursday, Sept. 16, that civilians were being killed in Shatila, since from the moment these armed men entered the camps they began murdering people at random and those who fled flee told the Israelis what was happening. No one could move in or out. under them. The next day, September 16, Israeli soldiers allowed about 150 Phalangist militiamen into Sabra and Shatila. The militiamen, the witnesses said, appeared to be coming from both southern Lebanon - the area of Major Haddad's stronghold - and East Beirut. The Phalange, known for their brutality and a history of atrocities . But that day-to-day life has certainly changed – particularly for women. According to both Colonel Prince, the Lebanese Army Surgeon General, and a United Nations observer who saw the more than 300 corpses discovered in Shatila so far, it was clear from the relative states of decomposition that some people had been slain as early as Thursday and others as late as Saturday morning. The doctors said the first indication they had that a massacre might be taking place was when an 11-year-old boy, Milad Farouk, was brought into the hospital with three gunshot wounds. Yet, according to Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the militiamen doing the killing were told by the Israelis they could stay inside the camps until Saturday morning, and the murders continued until they left. The cable was immediately distributed in the command and sent to Tel Aviv, he reported. They feared for their lives. The vast majority of people in the camps appear to have been resigned to the Israelis coming into their area and disarming them. ''They were very well equipped,'' she recalled. 'The story of a teenager crossing Hitler's Europe with only her own courage and luck to sustain her. ... Stunning.' Elaine Feinstein Too many people have already fled the scene. The reason was fear. A 'Softening-Up' Process. ''We know most of them are not bad people. The slayings, which began Wednesday, Sept. 15, and continued until Saturday, Sept. 18, raise questions that focus particularly on the role played by the Israeli Army in what is certain to be regarded as one of the most important events in the modern history of the Middle East. She begged them to spare her baby. Two men in the group were dispatched to find out what was going on, they recalled later. The Massacre. The artillery fire, many of these patients later said, appeared to be coming from Israeli positions overlooking the camp to the west. It is believed from accounts pieced together from various sources among residents in the camp that a last stand of sorts was organized by some of the Shatila men at about this time. Victims' bodies lie in the grounds of Sabra Refugee Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp near Beirut, September 24, 1982. At some locations, fierce gun battles erupted between Israeli soldiers and Moslem militiamen. Beside them were a number of corpses that had already begun to decay. Doctor Pleads for His Life. This was corroborated in Mr. Sharon's subsequent statement. A Sky Aglow With Flares. There are about 500,000 Palestinians in Lebanon, and many of them have lived in refugee camps such as Shatila since 1948. But this did not happen. That was the first time we began to hear - I don't remember how - that the Israelis were surrounding the camp and setting up checkpoints. A Question of Identity. 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