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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre
Sabra and Shatila massacreFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
This page is related to the 1982 events only. For the 1985–1987 events, see war of the camps.
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Aftermath of massacre of Palestinians by Christian Phalangists in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps[1]
Location West Beirut, Lebanon
Date September 16, 1982
Target Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
Attack type Massacre
Death(s) 328 to 3,500 (number disputed)
Perpetrator(s) Kataeb Party militia under Elie Hobeika
[hide]v · d · e
Lebanese Civil War
Phases
1975–77 – 1977–82 – Israeli invasion (1982–83) – 1984–89
Engagements
Bus massacre – Battle of the Hotels – Black Saturday – Karantina – Damour – Tel al-Zaatar – Hundred Days' War – Sabra and Shatila – Barracks bombing – Mountain War – The Camps
The Sabra and Shatila massacre took place in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon between September 16 and September 18, 1982, during the Lebanese civil war. Palestinian and Lebanese civilians were massacred in the camps by Christian Lebanese Phalangists while the camp was surrounded by the Israel Defense Force. In that period of time, Israel was at war with the PLO in Lebanon. Israeli forces occupied Beirut, dominated the refugee camps of Palestinians and controlled the entrance to the city. After the assassination of Bachir Gemayel, leader and president-elect of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, a Maronite group, also called Lebanese Forces militia group, entered the camp and murdered inhabitants during the night. The exact number of victims is disputed, from 700–800 to 3,500 (depending on the source).
Israeli forces enabled the entrance of the angry Kataeb Party group to the refugee camps, by providing them transportation[citation needed] from outside Beirut and firing illuminating flares over the camps.[citation needed] The Phalangists were under the direct command of Elie Hobeika, who later became a long-serving Member of the Parliament of Lebanon and, in the 1990s, a Lebanese cabinet minister.
In 1982, an independent commission chaired by Sean MacBride concluded that the Israeli authorities or forces were, directly or indirectly, responsible.[2] The Israeli government established the Kahan Commission to investigate, and in early 1983 it found that Israeli military personnel were aware that a massacre was in progress without taking serious steps to stop it. It therefore regarded Israel as bearing part of the "indirect responsibility." The commission held Ariel Sharon personally responsible for having disregarded the prospect of acts of bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps and not preventing their entry[3].