"... Israel duped the United Stated into believing that “thousands of terrorists” remained in west Beirut following the expulsion of Palestinian fighters 30 years ago, providing cover for the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, according to recently declassified Israeli documents.The documents include verbatim transcripts of meetings between US and Israeli officials before and during the three-day massacre led by the right-wing Lebanese Christian Phalange militia that left roughly 2,000 people dead, mostly children, women and elderly men.
“[The transcripts] reveal that the Israelis misled American diplomats about events in Beirut and bullied them into accepting the spurious claim that thousands of “terrorists” were in the camps,” The New York Times, which obtained the documents, reported.
“Most troubling, when the United States was in a position to exert strong diplomatic pressure on Israel that could have ended the atrocities, it failed to do so,” the newspaper added.
The Palestinian fighters had previously been evacuated from Lebanon in a US-coordinated effort whereby they provided assurances to protect the camp's residents, which included both Palestinians and Lebanese.
On 16 September 1982, the first day of the massacre, US envoy to the Middle East Morris Draper met with Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who justified Israel's occupation of west Beirut by claiming that “2,000 to 3,000 terrorists” remained in that part of the city.
Draper, according to the documents, was furious to learn that Sharon wanted to allow the Christian militiamen into west Beirut to root out what he claimed were terrorists.
Later that evening, word began to spread in Israel that a massacre was taking place in Sabra and Shatila.
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister David Levy reportedly remarked: “I know what the meaning of revenge is for [the Phalanges], what kind of slaughter. Then no one will believe we went in to create order there, and we will bear the blame.”
The following day, while the massacre continued, Draper, who had not yet learned that the Phalangists had entered the camp, met with high ranking Israeli officials including Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Shamir had known of the slaughter in the camp, but failed to inform the US diplomat.
Sharon, also at the meeting, continued to insist that the “terrorists” in west Beirut needed “mopping up.”
When Draper demanded that the Israeli forces immediately pull out of the area, Sharon responded with outrage: “I just don’t understand, what are you looking for? Do you want the terrorists to stay? Are you afraid that somebody will think that you were in collusion with us? Deny it. We denied it.”..."
'Sabra? You mean the Israeli Hummus?
3 comments:
Ryan Crocker was a young Diplomat attached to the American Embassy in Beirut in Sep. 1982. He was the first person to enter the camps, even before any Journalists...He filed a scathing report to his superiors at the State Department and the CIA..., only to be reprimanded and even demoted for a while...Ryan Crocker accused Israel, Ariel Sharon, IDF and the forces of Saad HADDAD DIRECTLY, saying that they are the ones who have done the whole massacre, and planned it well ahead of time, even before the assassination of Bashir Gemayel... The forces of Saad HADDAD had been flown into the Beirut International Airport by a C130 Israeli transport plane, and many Lebanese army officers could testify to that even today... So, Al-Akhbar bullshit should be taken with a grain of salt...
Anon '10:06 AM'
Obviously you DON'T read well!
Al Akhbar's 'bull' is the NYTimes' story.
But that's ok!
The same goes to the NY Times and a whole host of other publications, not one of them has done any real research into the matter, except for Alain MENARGUES.
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