One might say that the Palestinians are touching their old wounds by remembering their tragedies and wars and crimes committed against them. However their ancestors always repeat a proverb that applies to them “Sorrow is never forgotten.”
Despite the passing of 36 years since the Sabra and Shatila Massacre it is still deeply rooted in the minds of the older generation that passed the story of what happened to to their children to tell them that their ancestors fathers mothers and brothers were massacred by the Israeli forces and the Lebanese militias in one of the worst massacres in the Palestinian history.
The massacre left doctors and journalists broken after they inspected what the Israeli-sponsored massacres against the poorest refugee camp in Lebanon Shatila and the Lebanese neighborhood of Sabra which took place just two days after the assassination of Lebanese President-elect Bashir Jemayel. He was the leader of the right-wing militias that collaborated with the Israeli forces which occupied southern Lebanon in 1982.
Order of the massacre
On the night of ‘Black Thursday’ as the Palestinians and the Lebanese call it the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (then war minister) ordered the encirclement of Sabra and Shatila camps in preparation for committing one of the most heinous massacres in modern history.
As the night of September 16 1982 drew the Israeli occupation forces and Isolationist Groups: (the Lebanese Phalangist and the Southern Lebanese Army) began advancing through the southwestern alleyways of the camp facing Acre Hospital and spread all over its streets taking full control of it.
For three days the Isolationist Groups and Israeli soldiers carried out horrific massacres against the unarmed inhabitants of the camp making it one of the ugliest massacres perpetrated throughout human history according to an eyewitness.
After the Sabra and Shatila massacre the Israeli forces allowed doctors and media in. They were shocked by what happened and what they saw of ugly scenes of cut off bellies and slaughtered necks and dead bodies in the streets.
Post-massacre
Figures on the number of victims of the heinous massacre vary but estimates suggest that between 750 and 3500 men women and children were killed in less than 48 hours on September 16 and 17 1982 out of the 20000 inhabitants of Sabra and Shatila at the time.
The whole world was shocked by the massacre; the Israeli government tried to comply with pressures and formed a commission of inquiry. Sharon was charged with responsibility for the massacre but he denied its occurrence. He rejected the accusations and resigned from his position as war minister and returned years later to take the position of Israel’s Prime Minister!
In addition to these victims there were hundreds of missing persons and others whose bodies were found on the roads from Beirut to the south which were occupied by Israel. The Israelis kidnapped several hundred Palestinian refugees who were transported in trucks to unknown destinations.
