Why have the killers of Sabra and Shatila escaped justice?
By
Zeina Azzam
One of Israel’s most infamous crimes occurred 33 years ago this week.
In September 1982, the Israeli army surrounded the Sabra neighborhood and adjacent Shatila refugee camp in southern Beirut.
Israel gave its allies in a right-wing Christian militia known as the
Phalange free rein to massacre a large number of Palestinian and
Lebanese civilians living in the area. Israeli troops even shot flares
into the night sky to help the Phalangists find their targets.
Exactly how many were killed between 16 and 18 September 1982 remains
unknown. Estimates vary from 800 to 3,500; the real number is hard to
determine because bodies were buried quickly in mass graves or never
found, and many men were marched out of the camp and "disappeared."
No information has been released about them to this day.
Click here to read the rest of this analysis.
This article originally appeared in Electronic Intifada.
Zeina Azzam
is Executive Director of the Palestine Center. This policy brief may be
used without permission but with proper attribution.
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