This Week in History: The massacre at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps

Premium special: A glimpse into historical moments in Israeli news from this week in 'The Jerusalem Post' front covers.

By CAROLINE FRANK
This week in history: the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon (photo credit: REUTERS)
This week in history: the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon
(photo credit: REUTERS)

This week we bring you three significant historical events - the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.  Following this event, Israeli civilians held mass protests over the Israel Defense Forces’ disregard of the brutal murders as Israel controlled West Beirut at the time. Also this week, the UN probe alleged Israeli crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict of 2009 and there was savage fighting reported in Jordan in 1970.

On September 18, 1970, The Jerusalem Post reported about the fierce fighting throughout Jordan. At the time, faced with the alternative of abdication or a strong bid to reassert his authority, then King Hussein bin Talal opted for the latter option and appointed a military government to deal with the terrorists. Savage battles raged through Jordan as a result.

 

During the First Lebanon War, on September 20, 1982, hundreds were brutally murdered in Lebanon refugee camps. The Post reported scores of men, women and children’s bodies that littered the streets of West Beirut. The bodies were found inside the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps. At the time of the massacre, Israel was fully in control of West Beirut. Residents said the throngs were killed at the hands of the Lebanese Christian militia forces. Following this event, Israeli civilians held mass protests against the government over the Israel Defense Forces’ disregard of the brutal murders.

On September 16, 2009, the UN probed alleged Israeli crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The Post noted that the Goldstone Commission gave Israel three months to investigate the purported war crimes during its attack on Hamas during Operation Cast Lead. Israel referred to the Goldstone Commission Report as “nauseating” and argued it lacked the context of a decade of Hamas terrorist attacks. Goldstone, in a an op-ed piece in the Washington Post on April 1, 2011, recanted parts of his own commission’s findings, and wrote that, “If I had known then what I know now, the Goldstone Report would have been a different document.”