122-515: Israeli tactical victories, strategic failure Total casualities: 19,085 killed and 30,000 wounded. Civilians at Sabra-Shatila massacre : 800-3,500 killed. Second phase: 1977–1982 Third phase: 1982–1984 Fourth phase: 1984–1990 Cantons and puppet states The 1982 Lebanon War , also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon , began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon . The invasion followed
244-617: A multinational peacekeeping force . By expelling the PLO, removing Syrian influence over Lebanon, and installing a pro-Israeli Christian government led by President Bachir Gemayel , the Israeli government hoped to sign a treaty that would give Israel "forty years of peace". Following the assassination of Gemayel in September 1982, Israel's position in Beirut became untenable and the signing of
366-507: A Phalangist slaughter in the camps. Shamir testified that from his recollection the main thing Tzipori had told him of was that 3/4 IDF soldiers killed, no mention of a massacre or slaughter, as opposed to a "rampage" had been made. He made no check because his impression was that the point of the information was to keep him updated on IDF losses. At a meeting with American diplomats at 12:30 Shamir made no mention of what Tzipori told him, saying he expected that he would hear from Ariel Sharon ,
488-724: A border skirmish that culminated in the downing of six Syrian MiG fighters near the Golan Heights . Shortly thereafter, after receiving misleading reports about IDF activity on the Israeli-Syrian border from the Soviet Union , Egypt expelled UNEF peacekeepers from the Sinai Peninsula and later blockaded the Straits of Tiran . Roughly two weeks later , Israel responded with a surprise attack against
610-539: A camp administered by UNRWA . The total death toll in Lebanon for the whole civil war period was around 150,000 victims. As the civil war unfolded, Israel and the PLO had been exchanging attacks since the early 1970s until early 1980s. The casus belli cited by the Israeli side to declare war, however, was an assassination attempt, on 3 June 1982, made upon Israeli Ambassador to Britain Shlomo Argov . The attempt
732-460: A ceasefire across the Lebanon border between Israel and the PLO. Habib could not talk to the PLO directly because of Kissinger's directive, so he used a Saudi member of the royal family as mediator. The agreement was oral – nothing could be written down since Israel and the PLO did not recognize each other and refused to negotiate with each other – but they came up with a truce. ... Thus the border between Lebanon and Israel suddenly stabilized after over
854-776: A communication informing the battalion commander that civilians had been killed, and that the latter had replied, "We know, it's not to our liking, and don't interfere." At around 08:00, military correspondent Ze'ev Schiff received a tip-off a source in the General Staff in Tel Aviv that there had been a slaughter in the camps. Checking round for some hours, he got no confirmation other than that there "there's something." At 11:00 he met with Mordechai Tzipori , Minister of Communications and conveyed his information. Unable to reach Military Intelligence by phone, he got in touch with Yitzhak Shamir at 11:19 asking him to check reports of
976-531: A decade of routine bombing. Between July 1981 and June 1982, as a result of the Habib ceasefire, the Lebanese-Israeli border "enjoyed a state of calm unprecedented since 1968." But the 'calm' was tense. US Secretary of State, Alexander Haig filed a report with US President Ronald Reagan on Saturday 30 January 1982 that revealed Secretary Haig's fear that Israel might, at the slightest provocation, start
1098-545: A discussion at Northern Command that, rather than a cleansing of terrorists, what would take place was a massacre, informing higher commanders that already between 120 and 300 had already been killed by that time. At 23:00 the same evening, a report was sent to the IDF headquarters in East Beirut, reporting the killings of 300 people, including civilians. The report was forwarded to headquarters in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and to
1220-869: A few independent observers managed to enter. Among them were a Norwegian journalist and diplomat Gunnar Flakstad , who observed Phalangists during their cleanup operations, removing dead bodies from destroyed houses in the Shatila camp. Many of the bodies found had been severely mutilated. Young men had been castrated , some were scalped , and some had the Christian cross carved into their bodies. Janet Lee Stevens , an American journalist, later wrote to her husband, Dr. Franklin Lamb, "I saw dead women in their houses with their skirts up to their waists and their legs spread apart; dozens of young men shot after being lined up against an alley wall; children with their throats slit,
1342-641: A few more terrorists being killed, which would be a benefit to all. Shamir and Sharon finally agreed to a gradual withdrawal, at the end of Rosh Hashana, two days later. Draper then warned them: Sure, the I.D.F. is going to stay in West Beirut and they will let the Lebanese go and kill the Palestinians in the camps. Sharon replied: So, we'll kill them. They will not be left there. You are not going to save them. You are not going to save these groups of
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#17327794974331464-504: A general curfew on all areas under their control and appoint a liaison officer to be stationed at the IDF forward command post. He told them that the IDF would not enter the refugee camps but that this would be done by the Phalangist forces. The militia leaders responded that the mobilisation would take them 24 hours to organise. On morning of Wednesday 15 September Israeli Defence Minister, Sharon, who had also travelled to Beirut, held
1586-619: A meeting with Eitan at the IDF's forward command post, on the roof of a five-storey building 200 metres southwest of Shatila camp. Also in attendance were Sharon's aide Avi Duda'i , the Director of Military Intelligence - Yehoshua Saguy , a senior Mossad officer, General Amir Drori , General Amos Yaron , an Intelligence officer, the Head of GSS — Avraham Shalom , the Deputy Chief of Staff—General Moshe Levi and other senior officers. It
1708-569: A new demographic balance in Lebanon favouring the Christians. On the night of 14/15 September 1982 the IDF chief of staff Raphael Eitan flew to Beirut where he went straight to the Phalangists' headquarters and instructed their leadership to order a general mobilisation of their forces and prepare to take part in the forthcoming Israeli attack on West Beirut. He also ordered them to impose
1830-517: A peace treaty became increasingly unlikely. There was outrage at the IDF's role in the Israeli-backed, Phalangist -perpetrated Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians and Lebanese Shias . This stoked Israeli public disillusionment with the war. The IDF withdrew from Beirut and ended its operation on 29 September 1982. The May 17 Agreement of 1983 ended the state of war between Israel and Lebanon, and provided for an Israeli withdrawal from
1952-560: A political-strategic alliance, and members of the Israeli government like Ariel Sharon began to conceive of a plan to install a pro-Israel Christian government in Lebanon, as it was known that Bashir wanted to remove the PLO and all Palestinian refugees in the country. From June to December 1980 the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) recorded an increase in activities along the border zone. No attacks by Palestinian forces on Israel were recorded, while
2074-463: A pregnant woman with her stomach chopped open, her eyes still wide open, her blackened face silently screaming in horror; countless babies and toddlers who had been stabbed or ripped apart and who had been thrown into garbage piles." 1967 Palestinian exodus The Naksa ( Arabic : النكسة, "the setback") was the displacement of around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and
2196-507: A result, thousands of Israeli citizens who lived near the Lebanese border headed south. There patterns of Israeli-initiated airstrikes and Palestinian retaliations with attacks on northern Israel are in contrast with the official Israeli version "A ceasefire declared in July 1981 was broken: the terrorists continued to carry out attacks against Israeli targets in Israel and abroad, and the threat to
2318-620: A security zone in southern Lebanon with mostly Christian inhabitants, in which they began to supply training and arms to Christian militias which would later form the South Lebanese Army . But Israel's main partner was to be the Maronite Phalange party, whose paramilitary was led by Bashir Gemayel , a rising figure in Lebanese politics. Gemayel's strategy during the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War
2440-630: A series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and the Israeli military , which had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The Israeli military operation, codenamed Operation Peace for Galilee , was launched after gunmen from the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov , Israel's ambassador to
2562-529: A stand-off in a local battle as applying to the entire war anywhere in the Middle East or any incident internationally. Eitan commented that there was no difference if a militant threw a grenade in Gaza or fired a shell at a Northern settlement — all such acts broke the ceasefire. Sharon similarly did not wish to draw distinctions between different Palestinian factions, since all blame had to be attached to
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#17327794974332684-617: A war against Lebanon. The 'calm' lasted nine months. Then, on 21 April 1982, after a landmine killed an Israeli officer while he was visiting a South Lebanese Army gun emplacement in Taibe , Lebanon, the Israeli Air Force attacked the Palestinian-controlled coastal town of Damour , killing 23 people. Fisk reports further on this incident: "The Israelis did not say what the soldier was doing ... I discovered that he
2806-498: A war that would allow it to drive out the PLO and restore peace to the region. On 17 July, the Israel Air Force launched a massive attack on PLO buildings in downtown Beirut. "Perhaps as many as three hundred died, and eight hundred were wounded, the great majority of them civilians." The Israeli army also heavily targeted PLO positions in south Lebanon without success in suppressing Palestinian rocket launchers and guns. As
2928-519: Is the last time you're going to ask me a question like that; you know exactly what to do." Other Phalangists on the roof started laughing. Amongst the Israelis there was Brigadier General Yaron , Divisional Commander, who asked Lieutenant Elul, his Chef de Bureau, what the laughter was about; Elul translated what Hobeika had said. Yaron then had a five-minute conversation, in English, with Hobeika. What
3050-624: The 1948 Palestine war , there were major expulsions of Palestinians , which resulted in ~750,000 Palestinian refugees . Approximately 145,000 of those expelled in 1967 were already refugees from the 1948 displacement. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , the West Bank was annexed to Jordan and the Gaza Strip became an unrecognized client state of Egypt known as the All-Palestine Protectorate until its dissolution in 1959. In April 1967, Israel and Syria engaged in
3172-638: The Black September conflict. This caused an additional demographic imbalance within Lebanese society, and affected its democratic institutions established earlier by the National Pact . By 1975, the refugees numbered more than 300,000 and the PLO in effect created an unofficial state-within-a-state, particularly in Southern Lebanon , which then played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War . There had been continual violence near
3294-636: The Gaza Strip , when the territories were captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War . A number of Palestinian villages were destroyed by the Israeli military , such as Imwas , Yalo , Bayt Nuba , Beit Awwa , and Al-Jiftlik , among others. Historian Tom Segev writes that "the hope of moving the Arabs of Palestine to other states had been a constant factor in the Zionist movement", and that "during British rule , Zionist leaders looked into various ways of paying Arabs to move to distant provinces." During
3416-530: The Golan Heights further into Syria . Until 1967, roughly half of all Palestinians still lived within the boundaries of former Mandatory Palestine , but after 1967 the majority lived as refugees in other countries. The refugee camps of Aqabat Jaber , ʿ Ein as-Sultan , and Nu‘aymah, whose residents were refugees from the 1948 Palestinian expulsions , were almost entirely emptied, with approximately 50,000 people having fled or been expelled to Jordan . A United Nations Special Committee heard allegations of
3538-675: The Secretary-General of the United Nations , concluded that the IDF, as the then occupying power over Sabra and Shatila, bore responsibility for the militia's massacre. The commission also stated that the massacre was a form of genocide . And in February 1983, the Israeli Kahan Commission found that Israeli military personnel had failed to take serious steps to stop the killings despite being aware of
3660-623: The South Lebanon Army . As the massacre unfolded, the IDF received reports of atrocities being committed, but did not take any action to stop it. Instead, Israeli troops were stationed at the exits of the area to prevent the camp's residents from leaving and, at the request of the Lebanese Forces, shot flares to illuminate Sabra and Shatila through the night during the massacre. In February 1983, an independent commission chaired by Irish diplomat Seán MacBride , assistant to
3782-641: The Syrian Army , who occupied most of the country's northeast. The Israeli military, together with the Christian Lebanese Forces and South Lebanon Army , seized control of the southern half of Lebanon and laid siege to the capital Beirut . Surrounded in West Beirut and subjected to heavy Israeli bombardment, the PLO and their allies negotiated a ceasefire with the aid of United States Special Envoy Philip Habib . The PLO, led by Yasser Arafat , were evacuated from Lebanon, overseen by
1982 Lebanon War - Misplaced Pages Continue
3904-585: The "internationally recognized provocation" that Secretary of State Alexander Haig said would be necessary to obtain American support for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Secretary Haig's critics have accused him of "greenlighting" the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Haig denies this and says he urged restraint. In the biography of ceasefire broker Philip Habib, Alexander Haig is cited as leaving
4026-550: The 1967 war. On the eve of the 1982 Israeli invasion, the Palestinian population in Lebanon was 375,000. The 1967 Six-Day war stimulated the growth of the Palestinian fedayeen (guerrillas). After 1967, the number of armed Palestinians increased from 200 to 2,000 and by 1968 it had reached 15,000. Palestinian guerrilla action intended to serve as a war of national liberation for Palestinians. In 1968, PLO's objective
4148-593: The Americans through the Saudis that he was willing to suspend cross-border shelling. But that message was disregarded by the Israeli government. President Reagan also sent a message to Begin urging him not to widen the attack. On 4 June the Israeli cabinet authorized a large scale invasion. Sabra-Shatila massacre Second phase: 1977–1982 Third phase: 1982–1984 Fourth phase: 1984–1990 Cantons and puppet states The Sabra and Shatila massacre
4270-453: The Americans." The cease-fire, as both the PLO and the Americans saw it, did not include terror attacks stemming from Lebanon and carried out against Jews in Europe and other locales. In a meeting my father had with Alexander Haig and Philip Habib on 25 May 1982, Habib repeated what he had already said many times before: "Terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews in Europe are not included in
4392-638: The Arab world and became more aggressive. According to Zeev Maoz in Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel's National Security and Foreign Policy , the goals of the war were primarily developed by then Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon and were fourfold: George Ball testified before the US Senate 's Foreign Affairs Committee that Sharon's long-term strategy, as revealed in conversations,
4514-489: The Government of Israel is deliberately carrying out policies aimed at preventing the population of the occupied territories from returning to their homes and forcing those who are in their homes in the occupied territories to leave, either by direct means such as deportation or indirectly by attempts at undermining their morale or through the offer of special inducements, all with the ultimate object of annexing and settling
4636-530: The IDF had launched various attacks on Lebanese territory often in support of the Lebanese Christian militia. In doing so Israel had violated UN Security Council resolution 425 on hundreds of occasions [paragraph 58]. Where the initiator(s) of attacks could be identified in the report, in 15 cases Palestinian militants were to blame while on 23 occasions the Militia and/or the IDF were the instigators,
4758-500: The IDF incursions across the armistice line into Lebanon increased markedly, with minefields being laid, gun posts established, and generally involving numerous violations of Lebanese air-space and territorial waters. This was formally protested by the Lebanese government to the UN Security Council and General Assembly in several communications as violations by Israel of United Nations Security Council Resolution 425. During
4880-484: The IDF were suffering casualties whilst their allies were standing by. The subsequent Israeli inquiry estimated the strength of militias in West Beirut, excluding Palestinians, to be around 7,000. They estimated the Lebanese Forces to be 5,000 when fully mobilized of whom 2,000 were full-time. On 23 August 1982, Bachir Gemayel , leader of the right-wing Lebanese Forces , was elected President of Lebanon by
5002-576: The IDF's final withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. In Israel, the 1982 invasion is also known as the First Lebanon War . During the 1948 Palestine war , 730,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to leave by Zionist forces, of which 100,000 arrived in Lebanon. Most of the guerrillas would be recruited from Palestinian refugee camps. By 1969, this population had grown to 235,000 as a result of natural population growth and immigration, including Palestinians who fled or were expelled by Israel during
1982 Lebanon War - Misplaced Pages Continue
5124-402: The Israeli ambassador. Nonetheless, Israel used the event as a justification to break the ceasefire with the PLO, and as a casus belli for a full-scale invasion of Lebanon. After the war, Israel presented its actions as a response to terrorism being carried out by the PLO from several fronts, including the border with Lebanon. However, these historians have argued that the PLO was respecting
5246-491: The Israelis were going to invade Lebanon ... Weinberger just sat there and said nothing ." According to Avi Shlaim , the real driving force behind the Israeli invasion to Lebanon was the defense minister Ariel Sharon. One of his aims was the destruction of PLO military infrastructure in Lebanon and undermining it as a political organization, in order to facilitate the absorption of the West Bank by Israel. The second aim
5368-604: The Lebanon-Israel border between Israel and the PLO, starting from 1968; this increased following the relocation of PLO bases to Lebanon after the civil war in Jordan. The violence between Israel and the PLO peaked during Operation Litani in 1978, provoked by the Coastal Road Massacre which was carried out by Palestinian militants. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was created after
5490-461: The Middle East expressed horror after being told of Sharon's plans to send the Phalangists inside the camps, and Israeli officials themselves acknowledged the situation could trigger "relentless slaughter". The first unit of 150 Phalangists entered Sabra and Shatila at sunset on Thursday, 16 September. They entered the homes of the camp residents and began shooting and raping them, often taking groups outside and lining them up for execution. During
5612-770: The Military Intelligence chief and the American Morris Draper about the situation in West Beirut, At that noontime meeting Sharon insisted that "terrorists" needed "mopping up." Americans pressed for the intervention of the Lebanese National Army, and for an IDF withdrawal immediately. Sharon replied: I just don't understand, what are you looking for? Do you want the terrorists to stay? Are you afraid that somebody will think that you were in collusion with us? Deny it. We denied it, adding that nothing would happen except perhaps for
5734-532: The National Assembly. Israel had relied on Gemayel and his forces as a counterbalance to the PLO , and as a result, ties between Israel and Maronite groups, from which hailed many of the supporters of the Lebanese Forces, had grown stronger. By 1 September, the PLO fighters had been evacuated from Beirut under the supervision of Multinational Force. The evacuation was conditional on the continuation of
5856-420: The PLO fighters which Israel believed remained a hidden threat in Lebanon. However, the Phalangists, who were previously united as reliable Israeli allies, were now split because of developing alliances with Syria, which remained militarily hostile to Israel. As such, Gemayel rejected signing a peace treaty with Israel and did not authorize operations to root out the remaining PLO militants. On 11 September 1982,
5978-477: The PLO in Israel, the occupied territories, and the Jordanian and Lebanese border (in addition to 20 attacks on Israeli interests abroad). In Ariel Sharon's biography by his son, Gilad Sharon, the author referring to the Habib ceasefire, comments: "However, the agreement was explicit only regarding preventing terror from Lebanon, which is why my father encouraged the cabinet not to accept the offer as presented by
6100-427: The PLO such as the rejectionist Popular Front of George Habash, but also over those outside such as Abu Nidal's Fatah Revolutionary Council and Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front — General Command. In Begin's eyes, the ceasefire was not geographically limited to the Lebanese border. He argued that if Palestinian terrorism struck internationally, then this too would be regarded as a breach of the ceasefire. Begin thus took
6222-465: The PLO was responsible for Gemayel's assassination. The meeting concluded at 15:00 on 16 September. Shatila had previously been one of the PLO's three main training camps for foreign fighters and the main training camp for European fighters. The Israelis maintained that 2,000 to 3,000 terrorists remained in the camps, but were unwilling to risk the lives of more of their soldiers after the Lebanese army repeatedly refused to "clear them out." No evidence
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#17327794974336344-453: The PLO. He dismissed attempts at more rational evaluation as masking the real issue. In a speech to a Young Herut conference in April 1982, he accused those who tried to take a more objective standpoint of erecting 'a protective wall around the PLO inside and outside Israel'. Further support comes from George Ball , that the PLO had observed the ceasefire. Israel, he said, continued looking for
6466-429: The PLO. Yet Abu Nidal had broken with Arafat and PLO in 1974 over a fundamental principle: namely, that the Palestinian national movement would adopt a phased piecemeal approach to secure a Palestinian state and embark on a political path. The lack of understanding of the difference between Palestinian groups and the total ignorance of Palestinian politics on the part an overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews played into
6588-534: The Palestinian refugee camps but that the Phalange should be used. The only other member of the cabinet who was consulted was Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir . Shortly after 6.00 am 15 September, the Israeli army entered West Beirut, This Israeli action breached its agreement with the United States not to occupy West Beirut and was in violation of the ceasefire. Fawwaz Traboulsi writes that while
6710-487: The Phalangists had been observed in the camps and that their presence was likely to cause problems. On returning to Israel, the Chief of Staff spoke to Ariel Sharon between 20:00 and 21:00, and according to Sharon, informed him that the "Lebanese had gone too far", and that "the Christians had harmed the civilian population more than was expected." This, he testified, was the first he had ever heard of Phalangist irregularities in
6832-407: The Phalangists were given "harsh and clear" warnings about harming civilians. However, it was by then known that the Phalangists presented a special security risk for Palestinians. It was published in the edition of 1 September of Bamahane , the IDF newspaper, that a Phalangist told an Israeli official: "[T]he question we are putting to ourselves is—how to begin, by raping or killing?" A US envoy to
6954-474: The Phalangists' activities, ordered two distinct actions to find out what was happening. The first failed to turn up anything. The second resulted in a report at 20:00 from the roof, stated that the Phalangists' liaison officer had heard from an operative inside the camp that he held 45 people and asked what he should do with him. The liaison officer told him to more or less "Do the will of God." The Intelligence Officer received this report at approximately 20:00 from
7076-508: The Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. Even though it was agreed that they would not harm civilians, they 'butchered.' They did not operate in orderly fashion but dispersed. They had casualties, including two killed. They will organize to operate in a more orderly manner—we will see to it that they are moved into the area." Early on that morning, between 08:00 and 09:00, several IDF soldiers stationed nearby noted killings were being conducted against
7198-544: The Shatila refugee camp were bombed for four hours and the local "Gaza" hospital was hit there. About 200 people were killed during these attacks. The PLO hit back firing rockets at northern Israel causing considerable damage and some loss of life. According to another source, twenty villages were targeted in Galilee and 3 Israelis were wounded. According to Shlaim, Yasser Arafat, at that time being in Saudi Arabia, told
7320-443: The Syrian-backed Karantina massacre (January 1976) by the Kataeb and its allies against Kurds , Syrians and Palestinians in the predominantly Muslim slum district of Beirut; Damour (January 1976) by the PLO against Christian Maronites , including the family and fiancée of the Lebanese Forces intelligence chief Elie Hobeika ; and Tel al-Zaatar (August 1976) by Phalangists and their allies against Palestinian refugees living in
7442-498: The United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin blamed the PLO, using the incident as a casus belli . It was the second invasion of Lebanon by Israel, following the 1978 South Lebanon conflict . The Israelis sought to end Palestinian attacks from Lebanon , destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the country, and install a pro-Israel Maronite Christian government. Israeli forces attacked and overran PLO positions in southern Lebanon and briefly clashed with
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#17327794974337564-489: The West Bank to prevent an Israeli attack. In contrast, Begin, Sharon and Eitan were searching for any excuse to neutralize their military opponents through a breach of the ceasefire. They believed that Arafat was buying time to build up his conventional forces. The Israeli interpretation of the conditions for the ceasefire placed responsibility for any act of Palestinian violence on Arafat's shoulders. It presumed that Arafat had complete control, not only over all factions within
7686-510: The actions of Amal and the South Lebanon Army under Major Saad Haddad 's leadership with the backing of Israeli military forces. Prior to establishing ceasefire in July 1981, U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim noted: "After several weeks of relative quiet in the area, a new cycle of violence has begun and has, in the past week, steadily intensified." He further stated: "There have been heavy civilian casualties in Lebanon; there have been civilian casualties in Israel as well. I deeply deplore
7808-447: The air forces of Egypt , Jordan , and Syria , beginning the Six-Day War . Following Israel's victory in the war, it occupied several territories that had previously belonged to its neighbors under the newly-established Israeli Military Governorate . By December 1967, 245,000 had fled from the West Bank and Gaza Strip into Jordan , 11,000 had fled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and 116,000 Palestinians and Syrians had fled from
7930-536: The assassination of Lebanese Christian President Bachir Gemayel , the Phalangists sought revenge. By noon on 15 September, Sabra and Shatila had been surrounded by the IDF , which set up checkpoints at the exits and entrances, and used several multi-story buildings as observation posts. Amongst them was the seven-story Kuwaiti embassy which, according to Time magazine, had "an unobstructed and panoramic view" of Sabra and Shatila. Hours later, IDF tanks began shelling Sabra and Shatila. The following morning, 16 September,
8052-405: The camp refugees. A deputy tank commander some 180 metres (200 yd) away, Lieutenant Grabowski, saw two Phalangists beating two young men, who were then taken back into the camp, after which shots rang out, and the soldiers left. Sometime later, he saw the Phalangists had killed a group of five women and children. When he expressed a desire to make report, the tank crew said they had already heard
8174-450: The camps. The Chief of Staff denied they had discussed any killings "beyond what had been expected". Later in the afternoon, a meeting was held between the Israeli Chief of Staff and the Phalangist staff. On the morning of Friday, 17 September, the Israeli Army surrounding Sabra and Shatila ordered the Phalange to halt their operation, concerned about reports of a massacre. On 17 September, while Sabra and Shatila still were sealed off,
8296-406: The camps. At 11:30 he telephoned Ariel Sharon to report on the rumours, and was told by Sharon that he had already heard of the stories from the Chief of Staff. At 16:00 in a meeting with the Phalangist staff, with Mossad present, the Israeli Chief of Staff said he had a "positive impression" of their behavior in the field and from what the Phalangists reported, and asked them to continue 'mopping up
8418-411: The capital, Beirut. Following an extended siege of the city , the fighting was brought to an end with a U.S.-brokered agreement between the parties on 21 August 1982, which allowed for safe evacuation of the Palestinian fighters from the city under the supervision of Western nations and guaranteed the protection of refugees and the civilian residents of the refugee camps. On 15 June 1982, 10 days after
8540-481: The cease-fire agreement. Arafat pressured the radical factions to maintain the ceasefire because he did not wish to provoke the Israelis into an all-out attack. The PLO acceptance of the ceasefire had led to dissension even within Fatah itself. A faction sympathetic to Abu Nidal forced a military confrontation, with accompanying arrests and executions — an event unprecedented in PLO internal disputes'. Arafat even attempted to distance himself from Palestinian unrest on
8662-404: The ceasefire agreement then in force with Israel and keeping the border between the Jewish state and Lebanon more stable than it had been for over a decade. During that ceasefire, which lasted eight months, UNIFIL —the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon—reported that the PLO had launched not a single act of provocation against Israel. The Israeli government tried out several justifications to ditch
8784-423: The ceasefire and attack the PLO, even eliciting accusations from the Israeli opposition that "demagogy" from the government threatened to pull Israel into war. Before the attempted assassination of the ambassador, all such justifications had been shot down by its ally, the United States, as an insufficient reason to launch a war against the PLO. On 6 June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon moving northwards to surround
8906-509: The command of Lebanese politician Elie Hobeika , whose family and fiancée had been murdered by Palestinian militants and left-wing Lebanese militias during the Damour massacre in 1976, itself a response to the Karantina massacre of Palestinians and Lebanese Shias at the hands of Christian militias. In total, between 300 and 400 militiamen were involved in the massacre, including some from
9028-475: The country. Amid rising casualties from guerrilla attacks, the IDF retreated south of the Awali river on 3 September 1983. From February to April 1985, the Israeli military undertook a phased withdrawal to its " South Lebanon security zone " along the border. The Israeli occupation saw the emergence of Hezbollah , an Iranian-backed Shia Islamist group. It waged a guerrilla war against the Israeli occupation until
9150-517: The destruction of over 400 Arab villages, but no evidence in corroboration was furnished to the Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the population of the occupied territories. In 1971, this UN committee published a report in which it stated that: On the basis of the testimony placed before it or obtained by it in the course of its investigations, the Special Committee had been led to conclude that
9272-602: The dining room, stated that within 2 hours the Phalangists had killed 300 people, including civilians. He returned sometime later and changed the number from 300 to 120. At 20:40, General Yaron held a briefing, and after it the Divisional Intelligence Officer stated that it appeared no terrorists were in the Shatila camp, and that the Phalangists were in two minds as to what to do with the women, children and old people they had massed together, either to lead them somewhere else or that they were told, as
9394-474: The empty camps' until 5 am, whereupon they must desist due to American pressure. According to the Kahan Commission investigation, neither side explicitly mentioned to each other reports or rumours about the way civilians were being treated in the camp. Between 18:00 and 20:00, Israeli Foreign Ministry personnel in Beirut and in Israel began receiving various reports from U.S. representatives that
9516-399: The evening of 14 September, following the news that Bachir Gemayel had been assassinated, Prime Minister Begin, Defense Minister Sharon and Chief of Staff Eitan agreed that the Israeli army should invade West Beirut . The public reason given was to be that they were there to prevent chaos. In a separate conversation, at 20:30 that evening, Sharon and Eitan agreed that the IDF should not enter
9638-445: The extensive human suffering caused by these developments." The President of the U.N. Security Council , Ide Oumarou of Niger , expressed "deep concern at the extent of the loss of life and the scale of the destruction caused by the deplorable events that have been taking place for several days in Lebanon". From the ceasefire, established in July 1981, until the start of the war, the Israeli government reported 270 militant attacks by
9760-508: The fact that the Multinational Force had removed barracks and mines that had encircled Beirut's predominantly Muslim neighborhoods and kept the Israelis at bay during the siege of Beirut . The Israeli advance over West Beirut in the wake of the PLO withdrawal, which enabled the Lebanese Forces raid, was in violation of the ceasefire agreement between the various forces. The killings are widely believed to have taken place under
9882-495: The gunners had been ordered to miss. Major-General Erskine (Ghana), Chief of Staff of UNTSO reported to the Secretary-General and the Security Council (S/14789, S/15194) that from August 1981 to May 1982, inclusive, there were 2096 violations of Lebanese airspace and 652 violations of Lebanese territorial waters. The freedom of movement of UNIFIL personnel and UNTSO observers within the enclave remained restricted due to
10004-513: The hands of those who did not wish to distinguish between the PLO and the Abu Nidal group. Thus, instead of an initiative to locate the Abu Nidal group in Damascus or Baghdad, the plan to invade Lebanon was activated. The PLO denied complicity in the attack, but Israel retaliated with punishing air and artillery strikes against Palestinian targets in Lebanon, including the PLO camps. Sabra and
10126-501: The incursion, following the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 in March 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, restore international peace and security, and help the government of Lebanon restore its effective authority in the area. As early as 1976, Israel had been assisting Lebanese Christian militias in their sporadic battles against the PLO. During Operation Litani in 1978, Israel established
10248-477: The intention of rooting out the PLO . By 30 August 1982, under the supervision of the Multinational Force , the PLO withdrew from Lebanon following weeks of battles in West Beirut and shortly before the massacre took place. Various forces—Israeli, Lebanese Forces and possibly also the South Lebanon Army (SLA)—were in the vicinity of Sabra and Shatila at the time of the slaughter, taking advantage of
10370-569: The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees left Beirut. Then on 14 September, Gemayel was assassinated in a massive explosion which demolished his headquarters. Eventually, the culprit, Habib Tanious Shartouni , a Lebanese Christian, confessed to the crime. He turned out to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and an agent of Syrian intelligence. Palestinian and Lebanese Muslim leaders denied any connection to him. On
10492-462: The international terrorism.. . If you don't want the Lebanese to kill them, we will kill them. In the afternoon, before 16:00, Lieutenant Grabowski had one of his men ask a Phalangist why they were killing civilians, and was told that pregnant women will give birth to children who will grow up to be terrorists. At Beirut airport at 16:00 journalist Ron Ben-Yishai heard from several Israeli officers that they had heard that killings had taken place in
10614-599: The kind of deaths the reported 2,000 terrorists in the camp would have put up with. An hour later, 1,500 militiamen assembled at Beirut International Airport, then occupied by Israel. Under the command of Elie Hobeika , they began moving towards the area in IDF-supplied jeeps , some bearing weapons provided by Israel, following Israeli guidance on how to enter it. The forces were mostly Phalangist, though there were some men from Saad Haddad 's "Free Lebanon forces". According to Ariel Sharon and Elie Hobeika's bodyguard,
10736-486: The latter also being responsible for the most violent confrontation of the period on 27 April [paragraph 52]. From 16 June to 10 December 1981, a relative quiet was reported continuing from 29 May 1981 until 10 July. This was broken when "Israeli aircraft resumed strikes against targets in southern Lebanon north of the UNIFIL area. (The Israeli strikes) led to exchanges of heavy firing between armed elements (Palestinians), on
10858-441: The liaison officer was overheard saying, to 'do what your heart tells you, because everything comes from God.' Yaron interrupted the officer and said he'd checked and that 'they have no problems at all,' and that with regard to the people, 'It will not, will not harm them.' Yaron later testified he had been sceptical of the reports and had in any case told the Phalangists not to harm civilians. At 21:00 Maj. Amos Gilad predicted during
10980-401: The massacre was presented as a reaction to the assassination of Bachir, it represented the posthumous achievement of his "radical solution" to Palestinians in Lebanon, who he thought of as "people too many" in the region. Later, the Israeli army's monthly journal Skira Hodechith wrote that the Lebanese Forces hoped to provoke "the general exodus of the Palestinian population" and aimed to create
11102-474: The militia's actions, and deemed that the IDF was indirectly responsible for the events, and forced erstwhile Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon to resign from his position "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" during the massacre. From 1975 to 1990, groups in competing alliances with neighboring countries fought against each other in the Lebanese Civil War . Infighting and massacres between these groups claimed several thousand victims. Examples:
11224-460: The national security of the United States required—which was not a confrontation between Israeli and Soviet tanks on the road from Beirut to Damascus. The American reaction was that they would not apply any undue pressure on Israel to quit Lebanon as the Israeli presence in Lebanon may prove to be a catalyst for the disparate groups of Lebanon to make common cause against both Syrian and Israeli forces. Haig's analysis, which Ronald Reagan agreed with,
11346-464: The night, the Israeli forces fired illuminating flares over the area. According to a Dutch nurse, the camp was as bright as "a sports stadium during a football game". At 19:30, the Israeli Cabinet convened and was informed that the Phalangist commanders had been informed that their men must participate in the operation and fight, and enter the extremity of Sabra, while the IDF would guarantee
11468-445: The northern settlements became unbearable." On 24 July 1981, United States Undersecretary of State Philip Habib brokered a ceasefire badly needed by both parties, the best achievable result from negotiations via intermediaries, aimed at complying with the decisions of UN Security Council resolution 490. The process was complicated, requiring shuttle diplomacy between Damascus, Jerusalem, and Beirut, United States. Philip Habib concluded
11590-399: The occupied territories. The Special Committee considers the acts of the Government of Israel in furtherance of these policies to be the most serious violation of human rights that has come to its attention. The evidence shows that this situation has deteriorated since the last mission of the Special Committee in 1970. After the psychological warfare unit made a visit to Qalqilya and many of
11712-591: The office of the Bureau Chief of the director of Military Intelligence, Lt. Col. Hevroni, at 05:30 the following day where it was seen by more than 20 senior Israeli officers. It was then forwarded to his home by 06:15. That same morning an IDF historian copied down a note, which later disappeared, which he had found in the Northern Command situation room in Aley. During the night the Phalangists entered
11834-399: The one hand, and IDF and the de facto forces (Christian Militia) on the other. On 13 and 14 July, widespread Israeli air-strikes continued. Armed elements (Palestinians) fired into the enclave and northern Israel." Israeli-initiated attacks had led to rocket and artillery fire on northern Israel. This pattern continued in the coming days. Israel renewed its air strikes in an attempt to trigger
11956-405: The person on the roof who heard the conversation. He did not pass on the report. At roughly the same time or a little earlier at 19:00, Lieutenant Elul testified that he had overheard a radio conversation between one of the militia men in the camp and his commander Hobeika in which the former asking what he was to do with 50 women and children who had been taken prisoner. Hobeika's reply was: "This
12078-661: The presence of the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF) to provide security for the community of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Two days later the Israeli Premier Menachem Begin met Gemayel in Nahariya and strongly urged him to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Begin also wanted the continuing presence of the SLA in southern Lebanon ( Haddad supported peaceful relations with Israel) in order to control attacks and violence, and action from Gemayel to move on
12200-485: The residents had fled, the UN representative Nils-Göran Gussing noted that 850 of the town's 2,000 houses were demolished. The Naksa is commemorated annually on Naksa Day , a day of remembrance for the events of the 1967 displacement. Historian Nur Masalha wrote in 2003 that: "In contrast to the large number of books written on the Palestinian refugee exodus of 1948 , only meagre historical research has been carried out on
12322-497: The rival Ba'ath regime in Syria—whether Syria intervened to help the PLO or not! At the Israeli Cabinet meeting the following day, both Begin and Eitan belittled intelligence reports that the likely culprit was the Abu Nidal group. Begin cut short his own advisor on terrorism, arguing that all Palestinian militants were members of the PLO, while Eitan ridiculed the intelligence staff for splitting hairs and demanded to strike at
12444-563: The same period Israel protested numerous attacks by Palestinian forces, unrelated to the Lebanese border zone. In his report for the period of 12 December 1980 to 12 June 1981 on UNIFIL activities, the Security Council Secretary General noted that infiltrations into the border zone by Palestinian armed forces had decreased relative to the previous six months. Indeed, the PLO had recognized their vulnerable position, and avoided overtly provoking Israel. In contrast
12566-545: The sixth IDF order relating to the attack on West Beirut was issued. It specified: "The refugee camps are not to be entered. Searching and mopping up the camps will be done by the Phalangists/Lebanese Army". According to Linda Malone of the Jerusalem Fund , Ariel Sharon and Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan met with Phalangist militia units and invited them to enter Sabra and Shatila, claiming that
12688-482: The start of the invasion, the Israeli Cabinet passed a proposal put forward by the Prime Minister, Menachem Begin , that the IDF should not enter West Beirut but this should be done by Lebanese Forces . Chief of Staff, Rafael Eitan , had already issued orders that the Lebanese predominantly Christian, right-wing militias should not take part in the fighting and the proposal was to counter public complaints that
12810-492: The success of their operation though not participate in it. The Phalangists were to go in there "with their own methods". After Gemayel's assassination there were two possibilities, either the Phalange would collapse or they would undertake revenge, having killed Druze for that reason earlier that day. With regard to this second possibility, it was noted, 'it will be an eruption the likes of which has never been seen; I can already see in their eyes what they are waiting for.' 'Revenge'
12932-507: The wake of the assassination of the President-elect Bashir Jemayel, the I.D.F. has seized positions in West Beirut in order to forestall the danger of violence, bloodshed and chaos, as some 2,000 terrorists, equipped with modern and heavy weapons, have remained in Beirut, in flagrant violation of the evacuation agreement. An Israeli intelligence officer present in the forward post, wishing to obtain information about
13054-464: The worst impression of all in the lead up to Israel's Lebanon invasion: Haig thus comes off very badly: not a team player, not able to keep the rest of the administration informed of what was going on beforehand, not willing to tell anyone in the White House why Sharon was so confident during the invasion, hoping that Reagan's special envoy would fail in his mission, and having little sense of what
13176-405: Was agreed that the Phalange should go into the camps. According to the Kahan Commission report throughout Wednesday, R.P.G. and light-weapons fire from the Sabra and Shatila camps was directed at this forward command post, and continued to a lesser degree on Thursday and Friday (16–17 September). It also added that by Thursday morning, the fighting had ended and all was 'calm and quiet'. Following
13298-626: Was no chance in persuading the cabinet to approve a large-scale operation in Lebanon, adopted a different tactic and intended to implement "Operation Big Pines" in stages by manipulating enemy provocations and Israeli responses. On 3 June 1982 Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov was shot and seriously wounded in London by militants belonging to the Iraqi-backed Abu Nidal militant organization . The attack
13420-480: Was offered for this claim. There were only a small number of forces sent into the camps and they suffered minimal casualties. Two Phalangists were wounded, one in the leg and another in the hand. Investigations after the massacre found few weapons in the camps. Thomas Friedman, who entered the camps on Saturday, mostly found groups of young men with their hands and feet bound, who had been then lined up and machine-gunned down gang-land style, not typical he thought of
13542-482: Was one of "squeezing the Palestinians out of the West Bank . .allowing only enough of them to remain for work." The military plan with the code name "Big Pines", prepared by IDF, envisaged invasion to Lebanon up to the highway Damascus-Beirut and linking with Maronite forces. It was first presented to Israeli cabinet on 20 December 1981 by Begin, but rejected by the majority of ministers. According to Avi Shlaim, Sharon and chief of staff Rafael Eitan , realizing that there
13664-534: Was ordered by the Iraqi Intelligence Service . Following the attack, the assassins drove to the Iraqi embassy in London, where they deposited the weapon. In his memoirs, Sharon stated that the attack was "merely the spark that lit the fuse". Israeli prime Minister Begin used this as the "internationally recognized provocation" necessary to invade Lebanon. The fact that the Abu Nidal organization
13786-417: Was said is unknown. The Kahan Commission determined that the evidence pointed to 'two different and separate reports', noting that Yaron maintained that he thought they referred to the same incident, and that it concerned 45 "dead terrorists". At the same time, 20:00, a third report came in from liaison officer G. of the Phalangists who in the presence of numerous Israeli officers, including general Yaron, in
13908-527: Was that this uniting of Lebanese groups would allow President Elias Sarkis to reform the Lebanese central Government and give the Palestinian refugees Lebanese citizenship. Additional evidence that the United States approved the Israeli invasion comes from longtime CIA analyst Charles Cogan, who says that he was in the room during a May 1982 meeting in The Pentagon during which Sharon explained to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger "in great detail how
14030-529: Was the 16–18 September 1982 killing of between 1,300 and 3,500 civilians—mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shias —in the city of Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War . It was perpetrated by the Lebanese Forces , one of the main Christian militias in Lebanon , and supported by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that had surrounded Beirut's Sabra neighbourhood and the adjacent Shatila refugee camp . In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with
14152-669: Was the establishment of the Maronite government in Lebanon, headed by Bashir Gemayel and signing the peace treaty between two countries, the third aim was the expelling of the Syrian Army from Lebanon. Also, according to Shlaim, with the completion of Israeli withdrawals from Sinai in March 1982, under the terms of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty , the Likud -led government of Israel hardened its attitude to
14274-479: Was the longtime rival of PLO, that its head was condemned to death by the PLO court, and that the British police reported that PLO leaders were on the "hit list" of the attackers did not deter Begin. Iraq's motives for the assassination attempt may have been to punish Israel for its destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor in June 1981 , and to provoke a war in Lebanon that Iraqi leaders calculated would be detrimental to
14396-467: Was the work of the Iraq -based Abu Nidal , possibly with Syrian or Iraqi involvement. Historians and observers such as David Hirst and Benny Morris have commented that the PLO could not have been involved in the assault, or even approved of it, as Abu Nidal's group was a bitter rival to Arafat's PLO and even murdered some of its members. The PLO issued a condemnation of the attempted assassination of
14518-402: Was to establish a single democratic state in all of historical Palestine with equal rights for Jews, Muslims in Christians. It was around this time that Palestinians began to conduct raids into Israel. By 1977, the objective had evolved to establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, alongside Israel. In 1970, a large influx of Palestinians from Jordan went into Lebanon after
14640-571: Was to provoke the Syrians into retaliatory attacks on Christians, such that Israel could not ignore. In 1978, Menachem Begin declared that Israel would not allow a genocide of Lebanese Christians, while refusing direct intervention. Hundreds of Lebanese militiamen began to train in Israel, at the IDF Staff and Command College. The relationship between Israel and the Maronites began to grow into
14762-480: Was visiting one of Haddad's artillery positions (Christian militia) and that the mine could have been lain [sic] as long ago as 1978, perhaps even by the Israelis themselves". On 9 May 1982, Israeli aircraft again attacked targets in Lebanon. Later that same day, UNIFIL observed the firing of rockets from Palestinian positions in the Tyre region into northern Israel, but none of the projectiles hit Israeli towns –
14884-498: Was what Bachir Gemayel's brother had called for at the funeral earlier. Levy commented: 'the Phalangists are already entering a certain neighborhood—and I know what the meaning of revenge is for them, what kind of slaughter. Then no one will believe we went in to create order there, and we will bear the blame. Therefore, I think that we are liable here to get into a situation in which we will be blamed, and our explanations will not stand up ..." The press release that followed reads: In
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