Sabra and Shatila

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What is 'Sabra & Shatila?

• Who killed the Arabs in the town?

• But didn't Israel knowingly allow the Christians into the town in order to
perpetrate the massacre?

• How many were killed? Were women and children targeted?

• Why did the Christians kill those Arabs?

• Doesn't Israel have any remorse or regrets over what happened?

• Did Ariel Sharon allow the massacre to happen?

What is 'Sabra & Shatila?

• Sabra & Shatila are Arab "refugee camps" located in Lebanon. It is in fact a town
used for terrorist training, and targeting of Christian communities, and ultimately
Israel. A massacre was perpetrated on its residents in 1982, which, like Deir
Yassin in Jerusalem, and Qana in southern Lebanon, is blamed on Israel by the
anti-Zionists, and held up as an example of Israel's "brutality".

Who killed the Arabs in the town?

• The Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia was responsible for the massacres that
occurred at the two Beirut-area refugee camps on September 16-17, 1982.

But didn't Israel knowingly allow the Christians into the town in order
to perpetrate the massacre?
• Israeli troops allowed the Phalangists to enter Sabra and Shatila to root out
terrorist cells believed located there. It had been estimated that there may have
been up to 200 armed men in the camps working out of the countless bunkers
built by the PLO over the years, and stocked with generous reserves of
ammunition.
 Israel had allowed the Phalange to enter the camps as part of a plan to transfer
authority to the Lebanese, and accepted responsibility for that decision.

How many were killed? Were women and children targeted?

• When Israeli soldiers ordered the Phalangists out, they found hundreds dead
(estimates range from 460 according to the Lebanese police, to 700-800
calculated by Israeli intelligence). The dead, according to the Lebanese account,
included 35 women and children. The rest were men: Palestinians, Lebanese,
Pakistanis, Iranians, Syrians and Algerians. The killings came on top of an
estimated 95,000 deaths that had occurred during the civil war in Lebanon from
1975-1982.

Why did the Christians kill those Arabs?

• The killings were perpetrated to avenge the murders of Lebanese President Bashir
Gemayel and 25 of his followers, killed in a bomb attack earlier that week.

Doesn't Israel have any remorse or regrets over what happened?

The Kahan Commission of Inquiry, formed by the Israeli government in response to
public outrage and grief, found that Israel was indirectly responsible for not
anticipating the possibility of Phalangist violence. Israel instituted the panel's
recommendations, including the dismissal of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and
Gen. Raful Eitan, the Army Chief of Staff.
The Kahan Commission, declared former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, was "a
great tribute to Israeli democracy....There are very few governments in the world that
one can imagine making such a public investigation of such a difficult and shameful
episode."
Ironically, while 300,000 Israelis demonstrated in Israel to protest the killings, little
or no reaction occurred in the Arab world. Outside the Middle East, a major
international outcry against Israel erupted over the massacres. The Phalangists, who
perpetrated the crime, were spared the brunt of the condemnations for it.
By contrast, few voices were raised in May 1985, when Muslim militiamen attacked
the Shatila and Burj-el Barajneh Palestinian refugee camps. According to UN
officials, 635 were killed and 2,500 wounded. During a two-year battle between the
Syrian-backed Shiite Amal militia and the PLO, more than 2,000, including many
civilians, were reportedly killed. No outcry was directed at the PLO or the Syrians
and their allies over the slaughter. International reaction was also muted in October
1990 when Syrian forces overran Christian-controlled areas of Lebanon. In the eight-
hour clash, 700 Christians were killed-the worst single battle of Lebanon's Civil War.