Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 35)
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- Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 35)
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- 18 Egyptians
- 8 Bangladeshis
- 3 Jordanians
- 3 Turkish
- 2 Sudanese
- 2 Algerians
- 1 Iranian
- 1 Tunisian
- 15 unidentified
In the lists from different sources, the nationalities of 145
were identified; 75 Palestinians, 55 Lebanese and the rest of
different nationalities. This means Palestinians accounted for
48 ,52% of a total of 575 victims; 30.43% were Lebanese. The
proximity in the distribution of nationalities, between the field
study and what was added to it from other sources, asserts the
plausibility of these figures.
Among the kidnapped, there were many from different
nationalities. Many of them were kidnapped on Saturday, the
third day of the massacre, despite the orders to the inhabitants
to present their ID cards and line up according to their natio-
nality. Out of 100 kidnapped, according to the field study,
there were 66 Palestinians, 14 Lebanese and the rest Egyptians,
Jordanians, Algerians and unidentified. One black British
man, known to everyone as Othman, disappeared on Saturday,
September 18, 1982, and never came back. People said they
only knew his first name, and that he held a microphone near
Gaza hospital, encouraging people to obey the orders.
«IDENTIFYING TERRORISTS»
The Kahan report stated that the main task of the ‘agents’
the Israelis sent into the camps was identifying ‘terrorists’.
Supposedly, their ‘agents’ had lists of names of ‘terrorists’.
The initial Israeli reports insisted that the murdered people
were all ‘terrorists’. To refute this, we ask one question: Did
their ‘terrorist’ list include the names of women, children and
elderly? And what about the families that were massacred in
their homes or on their doorsteps, or in the shelters? Why were
they killed?
On the list of victims, there were 20 Palestinian families that
had only one family member left. Taking the Khateeb family
as an example, the father, mother, grandmother and eight
children were killed; by chance, one child survived. The same
happened with four families of the Miqdads.
In the victims and kidnapped list, there were fifty Palestinian
families that lost from two to eleven members. There were 25
Lebanese families that lost from two to nine members. There
were three Lebanese families with only one member remaining.
Reviewing the list of victims of the first night only, Thursday
night, reveals that of a total of ninety families - Palestinian,
Lebanese, Syrian and undetermined, there were 52 families
that were all killed that night. Among these were 28 Palestinian
families and 17 Lebanese. There were all these killings of whole
families, elderly, women and children in the very first hours,
yet the Kahan report confirms that the ‘operation’ was a legi-
timate fight between the Lebanese Forces and ‘terrorists’.
The unannounced aim of the Kahan report was to deny that
there was a massacre. To refute this, we say that the above
mentioned figures are only a part of the whole. Finally, the
testimonies of the survivors make us laugh at the question:
Was there a fight?
Um Nabil, a Palestinian woman who lived near Al Sharq
street cafe, laughed ironically in the midst of her mourning
when she said: «Our house was on the green line between Sabra
and Shatila... I saw them with my own eyes. There were
around fifteen young men and one young girl. People told
them to go home and not to make trouble or shoot. They
quickly veiled their faces with kuffiyehs. I saw these youths by
the entrance of the camp. They were sixteen and seventeen
years old, not older than twenty. When the Israelis realized
these young men were armed, they started to shoot dozens of
rockets on the camp. I saw the building opposite us burning
down. This was the game - the Israelis shooting the rockets,
and the Phalangists and Saad Haddad’s forces massacring the
people. On Saturday morning, I saw three young men, they
were only children, with their RPGs. We lived on the third
floor on a main street. We could see everything. We saw the
Phalangists entering the camp and forcing the people to leave
their homes. I yelled at the three young men to run. They threw
their weapons and ran...
«This is our story - a few young men, shooting (at the
enemy) from far away, were able to protect the camp from the
inside. None of the Phalangists were able to enter! The attac-
kers were cowards. Could you imagine what would have hap-
pened if there had been more men and if they had been ready...
How could they say there were 2,000 fighters? There weren’t
even 100. All the men of the revolution were gone. There were
only a few left, here and there. I wish the people had allowed
them to resist. They were yelling at them not to shoot and make
trouble, so as not to give the Israelis the opportunity to destroy
the camp...
«Please understand, the massacre took place because we
believed that we had international protection. Had we known
there was going to be a massacre, we women would have
fought, but they took us by surprise. This is our story...»
(interview April 5, 1983).
All witnesses said there was some resistance here and there,
but nothing substantial. The fighters that crossed the sea in
every direction but that of their homeland, sent letters to their
wives and children. But these letters, if they reached the camps
at all, found nobody to read them.
All the survivors told us unforgettable stories. One man,
who owned a small shop that was destroyed by the Israeli air
raids, stood in the middle of the main street of Shatila, in front
of Abu Jamal’s garage, where dozens were killed and shoveled
into the garage, saying, «The family that lived in this house
was all killed. This was Abu Yaser’s house and the next one
was Abu Ali’s. They were all killed. This is Abu Alli’s car, it is
still sitting her, God bless his soul. This was Yousef’s house.
His father, mother, grandmother and brother were all killed.
Um and Abu Saber could not find the bodies of their children;
they were buried under the rubble, God bless their souls. All
the houses inside the camp were destroyed. In the quarter over
there everyone was killed...» (interview March 3, 1983).
CONCLUSION
Once more, we state that the results of investigation into the
massacre are hardly final. It is not the writer’s task to investi-
gate, but to carry out a scientific research and to be accurate to
a degree that allows the writer to draw an analysis. We hope
that we were able to do so. The interviews with the survivors,
the lists of names and the field research with the original
forms, are all preserved at one of the Arab universities. In due
time, researchers will be able to utilize them.
Continuing to hide, disguise and bury the facts is useless. It
will only lead to discovering more facts. It will also lead the
Zionists to ask over and over: Isn’t there anything besides
Sabra and Shatila? Why do you only speak about this? What
about what happened to you over the past ten years in
Lebanon? What about what happened to you in Tripoli? What
about the war of the camps?
No one denies the horrors of the civil wars, but every civil
war came to an end. Conscience tell us that in civil war, you are
torn between your own people. You mourn the killer as well as
the victims. But in massacres, all the victims are on one side
and all killers on the other. That is the nature of massacre.
In Sabra and Shatila, the real killers were toying with their
binoculars, while the killers - the tools - were executing their
task barbarically. One killer - the tool - rejoiced and bragged
about accomplishing the mission, and threatened to do it
again. The other killer - the real killer - swore that he did not
kill with his own hands. Is there a difference between the two?
They are both killers. One day we will find the truth, when the
real killer will speak. In the history of massacres, death speaks
first, then the dead, and finally the killers. e@ - هو جزء من
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