Following the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in September 1982, and as a result of an international pressure to investigate the events that led and caused the massacres, an official Israeli commission of inquiry -- chaired by Yitzhak Kahan, president of Israel's Supreme Court -- investigated the massacre, and in February 1983 publicly released its findings. The Kahan Commission found that Ariel Sharon, among other Israelis, had responsibility for the massacre. The commission's report stated in part: "It is our view that responsibility is to be imputed to the Minister of Defense for having disregarded the danger of acts of vengeance and bloodshed by the Phalangists against the population of the refugee camps, and having failed to take this danger into account when he decided to have the Phalangists enter the camps. In addition, responsibility is to be imputed to the Minister of Defense for not ordering appropriate measures for preventing or reducing the danger of massacre as a condition for the Phalangists' entry into the camps. These blunders constitute the non-fulfillment of a duty with which the Defense Minister was charged." The Commission also concluded: "In his meeting with the Phalangist commanders, the Defense Minister made no attempt to point out to them the gravity of the danger, that their men would commit acts of slaughter....Had it become clear to the Defense Minister that no real supervision could be exercised over the Phalangist force that entered the camps with the IDF's assent, his duty would have been to prevent their entry. The usefulness of the Phalangists' entry into the camps was wholly disproportionate to the damage their entry could cause if it were uncontrolled." The Commission further noted: "We shall remark here that it is ostensibly puzzling that the Defense Minister did not in any way make the Prime Minister [Menachem Begin] privy to the decision on having the Phalangists enter the camps." The commission's conclusions constituted the minimum that could be deduced from the evidence. The facts warranted a finding of more than just indirect responsibility: - The Phalangists militia was "ordered" into the camps by Israeli chief of staff, Lieutenant General Raphael Eitan.
- Phalangist commanders met with General Amir Drori, commander of Israeli troops in Lebanon, and General Amas Yaron, commander for West Beirut, to "coordinate the militia's entry into the camps and arrange communications".
- The Phalange were given logistical support by the Israeli army during the massacre.
- The Phalange took orders, salaries and training directly from Israel.
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and the Israeli army knew that the Phalange leaders planned to expel most of the Palestinians from Lebanon by committing some atrocity. The Phalangists were at all times under Israeli army orders. "Only one element of Israeli Defense Forces will command all forces in the area", revealed the Kahan report. The Israeli head of intelligence commented, "This means that all forces in the area, including the Phalangists, will be under IDF command and will act according to its instructions". The Kahan commission was released without Appendix B, which remains secret until now, no one knows the reason why this part was held back, we can only make educated guesses based on the habits and attitude of the Zionists in their dealings with the Palestinians. |
