It has been twenty-seven years since the killing of more than 2000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians by Israel and its Lebanese allies. The full agony and trauma that were precipitated by the Massacre will never be fully known except by those who witnessed and survived it.
Sabra-Shatila was the culmination of the US-backed 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which resulted in the death of more than 20,000 civilians. Over 40,000 were injured during the invasion; thousands are still classified as missing. The Massacre was not an act of random and mindless violence. Rather, it was consistent with Israel’s long-standing application of instrumental violence– the use of physical or psychological violence in order to induce others to carry out some actions against their wishes. The goal of Sabra-Shatila was to ethnically cleanse Lebanon of the largest number of Palestinian civilians possible.
As we join our people everywhere in mourning the innocent victims of the Massacre, we recall the fact that the people of Sabra and Shatila were neither passive nor hapless on those eventful days of September, 1982. Palestinian and Lebanese residents of the camps stood their grounds and fought the invaders in three sectors of Sabra-Shatila: al-Horsh, Hay Farhat, and al-Dookhi Street. Although the resistance mounted by Sabra-Shatila residents was no match to the firepower of Israel and its allies, the defenders were able to save the lives of hundreds of civilians.
Today, and despite all the hardships facing them, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon continue to cling to their right to return to their original towns and villages in historic Palestine. The UN’s failure to implement its resolutions reaffirming that right is inexcusable considering its role in the creation of the refugee problem in the first place. Furthermore, the international community’s failure to implement those resolutions makes it complicit in Israel’s unceasing attempts to forever extinguish Palestine and its people.
U.S. Palestinian Community Network
(Palestinian Popular Conference)
September 17, 2009
