Terrorism
Case Study: Sabra and Shatila camps
Time: 16-17-18 Sep 1982

A few months back in Tehran Int’l Book Fair, I bought a few books on Palestine and Israel. I will write about them one by one- whenever I had the mood and time.

They were all very good and for such an ignorant girl I am, had lots of things to teach. One of them was Sabra and Shatila, September 1982 written by a Palestinian lady – Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout about the massacre Lebanese rightists committed, backed and organized by Israeli forces occupying Beirut in 1982.
Well, before reading the book, I just knew a hazy story of the reality including that the Palestinian refugees were massacred in Sabra and Shatila camps when Mr Sharon was supervising the ‘operation’ from a building having a good view on the entire site of massacre in Sep 82.
Reading the book, I learned a lot more. But reading it was really challenging and I had to concentrate a huge amount of energy to go on. Sometimes just amid a page describing a scene, I closed the book and tried to overcome my anger and sorrow squeezing my heart so badly wiping my river of tears. The brutality and the savagery were enormous- far more than what my heart could bear with.
The book is a very careful and detailed investigation on the massacre, interviewing tens of people who witnessed it and those who survived it. Beside the survived people, the interviews goes on with medics (there were some hospitals just close to the site), the volunteers who helped to bury the corpses, the members of aid organizations going to the camps right after the massacre and many other groups whom I don’t remember. Also it quotes from journalists’ reports who visited the camps when they were allowed to go in. Robert Fisk was one of them.

The massacre began on Sep 14, went on all during Sep 15 and ended on Sep 16 when in some parts, it even was not finished then. It not only took place in the camps, but also was extended to the area around and to the hospitals adjacent to the site.

Ms al-Hout lived in Beirut then as a Palestinian refugee in another corner of the city and began to work on the investigation project right after the massacre. She gives a detailed report on the procedure of interviews. Since many who survived were panicked by the horrible scenes they had experienced, they were reluctant to speak about it. Those who were courageous enough, accepted to go to the writer’s place to be interviewed by her. The technology was not that improved then. All the interviews were recorded on cassettes and then were written down by brave volunteers. Then, when the situation loosened a bit, Ms al-Hout went to camps and began to speak to people there.
As said before, the book is a careful and accurate research on all the incidents told by those who had witnessed it and had survived the massacre. So, the book includes accurate details on the interviewees, the place of interview, etc. Those who were terrified were given a chance to keep hidden by a nickname.
The book reveals that the massacre was backed and supported by Israelis. They surrounded the camps and lit the site with projectors to help the ‘operation’ to go on even during the night. Ms al-Hout gives exact locations of Israelis and many other details and proves that all the claims regarding the Israelis’ ignorance on the circumstances in the camps are big fat lies.
Despite what I thought, the victims were not just Palestinians. As the camps were the poor areas of Beirut, it was the residence of many other poor people who couldn’t afford good places to rent. So, when the biggest number of the butchered people goes to Palestinian, Lebanese were not few. Beside them, other nationalities were among the killed; Egyptians, Yemenis, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis and many other nationalities. To my surprise, I even saw an Iranian name. His occupation: baker.

A few days back a lady from Latin America left a comment here telling about ‘terrorism’. I invite her to read this book to know what actually terrorism means and who represents it in our world.