Word: sabra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Serious moral questions are raised by the Israeli Commission of Inquiry's report on the Sabra and Shatila massacres, and more particularly by public reactions to it. Paradoxically, while the factual findings of the Commission establish unequivocally the grave moral turpitude of a number of Israeli leaders, the very fact of the Commission's creation and the carrying out of its duties are hailed as evidence of Israel's observance of the rule of law and respect for democratic institutions. There are some very troubling aspects to this latter view, to say the least...
Second, it is more than disturbing to witness the rapidity with which Israel's defenders would forget the numerous and severe offenses committed by Israel against international law both before and after the Sabra and Shatila massacres. The most important of these offenses was the invasion of Lebanon itself, which violated articles of the U.N. charter prohibiting the use of force international relations, as well as U.N. General Assembly resolutions defining aggression and declaring the inadmissibility of intervention in another state. The massive scale of death and destruction caused by the Israeli forces in Lebanon far outweighed any actual...
Before the massacre, Sabra and Shatila were hives of cottage industry. The clang of metal against metal still rings from some of the small automobile repair shops, but behind the din there is a kind of lethargy. Women and children abound, but there are few males of working age. Many of the men were killed in the massacre. The male Palestinian fighters who survived left the country in the evacuation following the Beirut siege. Since then, the Lebanese army and security forces have conducted roundups of suspected P.L.O. members, criminals and others believed to be in Lebanon illegally. The roundups...
Publication of the Israeli commission report last week brought little joy or satisfaction to the residents of Sabra and Shatila. Said a Lebanese woman who lost several cousins and neighbors in the slaughter: "It is not enough for Israeli officials to lose their jobs. They should hang, or they should be made to die like dogs the way people were killed here." Others were less vengeful, but equally cynical. Said a young Palestinian woman who plans to leave Lebanon: "The Israeli judges did not tell half the truth. They just said enough to try to convince the world that they...
...make such a claim takes nerve, to say the least. To Sharon and the others the report plainly says: You are indirectly responsible for Sabra and Shatila because you "should have felt apprehension," you should have "take[n] the danger into account"; you "were obligated to foresee as probable" the carnage that ensued...