Sabra and Shatila massacre

**The Sabra and Shatila massacre** refers to the killings of Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shias at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp that took place in Beirut, Lebanon, the 16, 17 and 18 of September, 1982, during the Lebanese Civil War.

Israeli-backed Phalange militia killed between 2,000 and 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese civilians in two days. Those killed were nearly all Palestinian refugees, and the slaughter was carried out by the decision of the Lebanese Christian political party by their Phalangist militia. The massacre is today referred to as Sabra and Shatila after the names of the refugee camps in the attack.  

There is also an important Palestinian presence in the south of the country. Palestinians are mainly refugees. They are also numerous members of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), who established in south Lebanon in order to lead terrorist operations from there. Therefore, the different classes of society are also divided about the Palestinian question that is supported by some but not by others. The economic situation is not great as well since unemployment is at a very high rate.

### The context before the Sabra and Shatila massacre 
Right before the massacre of the two camps, the  President of Lebanon, Bachir Gemayel, was murdered in a bombing attack on the 14 of September 1982. He also was the leader of the Lebanese Phalanges. They took control and closed the west part of Beirut, including the Sabra and Shatila camps. Their invasion was helped by Israeli forces in the pretext of maintaining order in the capital. the Lebanese Phalanges were the primary Christian militia involved in the Lebanese Civil War. The Maronites first came to Lebanon in an attempt to escape persecution in Syria. The group was able to build a relationship with European powers, specifically maintaining a connection with France. In addition to the Phalangist militia, there was also a strong Phalangist political party, led most prominently by Pierre Gemayel.   

One of the key leaders of the Phalangist military faction was Bachir Gemayel, son to Pierre, and eventually elected president, though he was assassinated in mid-September of the same year he was elected, before having the opportunity to actually take office. His murder was carried out by bombing and perpetrated by Habib Tanious Shartouni, whose allegiance lay with Syria. He is known to have been a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Another was Elie Hobeika, who was known to have a close relationship with Gemayel and served as a military leader for the Lebanese forces at the time of the war. Though the murder attempt on Shlomo Argov was not perpetuated by the PLO, it gave to Israel the justification to attack Palestinian fighters in Lebanon. The Israeli army slowly advanced on Beirut where they joined their military forces with the Syrian forces already involved in the conflict and with the Lebanese Phalanges. They did not enter the capital until  a cease-fire agreement was set up by the USA in September.  Both Palestinian refugees and fighters had seen large amounts of violence. They sought to establish a place for themselves in Southern areas of Lebanon and in Beirut.

The Palestinian refugees' presence in Jordan played a significant role in the rising tension which eventually led to the Lebanese Civil War. They were the target of several forces, including the Maronites, accompanied by the Lebanese army and several other militias, as well as the Israeli army.  

## The Proceedings: When, Where, How and Why the Massacre Occurred 
In June of 1982, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon in an attempt to obliterate the Palestinian Liberation Organization.  

The Shatila camp, located in west Beirut, had been a standing Palestinian refugee camp since the 1940s. Over time, the camp had grown to also include the nearby Sabra neighborhood, and both Sabra and Shatila were in the direct path of the violence by the Israeli forces. However, because of the formal agreement reached by Philip Habib and Shafik Wazzan, the camps and the Palestinian civilians' security should have been safeguarded. This changed following the assassination of Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel. That prompted the Israeli army and the Phalangist militia, whose loyalty was strongly tied to Gemayel, to take action that they considered necessary to regain control in Beirut and protect the area and people within it. Many other parties, including the United States, were implicated in the events of the next few days. Other groups were involved, including the Lebanese Forces and other right-wing militias.

Following the Kahan Commission, Israel recognized having surrounded and controlled the camps during the massacre. However, it denies knowing that the massacre was happening.

### Testimonies 
Many scholars and journalists have written about the massacre. Also, numerous testimonies depicting the massacre have spread through journalist's work. Many testimonies say that Israeli soldiers saw the massacres occurring. We can illustrate that  through the testimonies collected by Pierre Péan, or Leila Shahid. These allegations however could have been discussed and their authenticity has not always been proved.  In addition to their memorial role, they are also used by journalists and scholars who study the importance of the massacre.  Seth Anziska has worked on American actions during the war. He based his works on  the communications between Israel and the USA and the record of the military movements.
* *Al-Manam*, realized by Mohammad Malas, is a documentary about Palestinian refugees during the Lebanese civil war.
* *Incendies*, realized by Denis Villeneuve, refers without telling it explicitely to a scene of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

### Literature 
* *Sabra and Chatila*, by Bayan Nuwayed, Pluto Press, Londres, 2004. 
* *Le Quatrième Mur,* by Sorj Chalandon, 2013.
* *Anima*, by Wajdi Mouawad, 2015.
* *Quatre heures à Chatila*, by Jean Genet, 1991.
* *From Israel to Damascus the Painful Road of blood, betrayal, and deception*, by Robert Maroun Hatem. Often known colloquially as "Cobra", the author of this biography was one of the bodyguards to the book's main person of interest. It is the account of Phalangist leader Elie Hobeika's life, in which his former employee, Hatem, portrays the violence of the war from an inside perspective and offers a decidedly negative overall picture of Hobeika.

## Bibliography 
* Al-Madfai, M. R. (1993). *Jordan, the United States, and the Middle East Peace Process, 1974-1991*. Cambridge University Press.
* Al-Shaikh, Z. (1984). Sabra and Shatila 1982: Resisting the massacre. *Journal of Palestine Studies*, 14(1), 57–90. https://doi.org/10.2307/2537057.
* Anderson, Betty. *A History of the Modern Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues*. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2016.
* Anziska, S. (2012, September 17). *A preventable massacre*. The New York Times. .
* Anziska, S. (2018). *Preventing palestine: A political history from Camp David to Oslo*. Princeton University Press.
* Aulas, M.-C. (1985). The Socio-Ideological Development of the Maronite Community. The Emergence of the Phalanges and the Lebanese Forces. *Arab Studies Quarterly*, 7(4), 1–27. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857790.
* Bassil-Morozow, H. (2016). Waltz with Bashir. *Journal of Analytical Psychology*, 61(5), 712–714. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12267.
* Documents and Source Material: Documents on Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. (1982). *Journal of Palestine Studies*, 11/12, 292–349. https://doi.org/10.2307/2538386.
* Fisk, R. (2012, September 15). *The forgotten massacre*. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-forgotten-massacre-8139930.html.
* Hagopian, E. C. (1983). Redrawing the Map in the Middle East: Phalangist Lebanon and Zionist Israel. *Arab Studies Quarterly*, 5(4), 321–336. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41857693.
* Harrison, O. C. (2021). Sounds of Palestine. *Sounds Senses*, 181.
* Hatem, R. M. (1999). *From Israel to Damascus the Painful Road of blood, betrayal, and deception*. Pride International Pub.
* Hiro, D. (1993). *Lebanon: Fire and embers: A history of the lebanese Civil War*. Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
* Ḥūt Bayān Nuwayhiḍ. (2004). *Sabra and Shatila September 1982*. Pluto Press.
* Malley, M. (2018). The Lebanese Civil War and the Taif Accord: Conflict and Compromise Engendered by Institutionalized Sectarianism. *The History Teacher*, 52(1), 121–159. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26646477.
* Malone, Linda A. (1985). The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the Sabra-Shatila Massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility Under International Law for Massacres of Civilian Populations. *Faculty Publications*, 587.
* Nalbantian, T. (2022). *The Lebanese Civil War. History of the Modern Middle East*. Leiden; Leiden University Faculty of Humanities.
* Palestinian Journeys. (1982, September 16). *Sabra and Shatila, 1982*. Palestinian Journeys. https://www.paljourneys.org/en/timeline/highlight/169/sabra-and-shatila-1982 .
* Reuters. (1982, October 3). *Phalangists identify bomber of Gemayel as Lebanese leftist*. The New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/03/world/phalangists-identify-bomber-of-gemayel-as-lebanese-leftist.html.
* Shahid, L. (2002). The Sabra and Shatila Massacres: Eye-Witness Reports. *Journal of Palestine Studies*, 32:1, 36-58, DOI: 10.1525/jps.2002.32.1.36.
* Slaieh, E. N. (1974). THE JORDANIAN-PALESTINIAN CIVIL WAR OF 1970 : A QUEST FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE. *India Quarterly*, 30(1), 42–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45070090.
* The Irish Times. (2002, January 26). *Led Christian Lebanese militia which massacred 2,000 refugees*. The Irish Times. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/led-christian-lebanese-militia-which-massacred-2-000-refugees-1.1048147.
* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Minorities at risk Project. (2004). *Chronology for Maronite Christians in Lebanon*. Refworld. https://www.refworld.org/docid/469f38b3c.html.
* Wakim, J. (2021). The Lebanese Civil War 1975–90. *Contemporary Arab Affairs*, 14(3), 105–124. https://doi.org/10.1525/caa.2021.14.3.105.

## References