Premier Menachem Begin continues to maintain that neither he nor his government had any reason to suspect that the Christian Phalangists would commit atrocities against civilians when Israel permitted them to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in west Beirut last September 16 to root out terrorists claimed to be hiding there.
That was the key paint made by Begin in a letter to the commission of inquiry into the refugee camps massacre which the commission made public today. The Prime Minister was one of nine senior government and military officials who received formal notification from the panel two weeks ago that they “may be harmed” by its eventual conclusions. All were given 15 days to re-appear before the commission to clarify their earlier testimony and examine witnesses and evidence. Five agreed but requested a one-week extension to prepare their material.
Begin chose to respond by letter to the commission’s warning that it might find him lax in the performance of his duties should it conclude that he did not give careful consideration to the possible actions by the Phalangists “and ignored the danger of acts of revenge and bloodshed by these forces against the population in the refugee camps.”
A KEY POINT IN BEGIN’S LETTER
Begin stressed in his letter, sent to the commission yesterday, that the Phalangists had refrained from acts of vengeance “or other irregular actions” against Palestinians in the two days immediately after the assassination of Lebanon’s President-elect Bashir Gemayel, the Phalangist leader. According to Begin, their restraint “eased fears” and “confirmed our knowledge” that the Phalangists were “organized, disciplined and centrally controlled military units.”
Begin who testified in person before the three man panel on November 8, added nothing to his original brief. His letter stressed that he had no cause for concern over the Phalangists’ conduct when he and his fellow ministers learned on the evening of Thursday, September 16 that Defense Minister Ariel Sharon had given them permission to enter the camps.
Begin said his own consultations with Sharon and Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan earlier that day concerned the Israel Defense Force’s entry into west Beirut and no mention was made of any role for the Phalangists. He defended the Cabinet decision, made retroactively, to allow the Phalangists into the refugee camps because “according to authoritative information in our possession” about 2,000 armed terrorists were hiding in the camps.
Begin’s letter stated further that the Phalangists had conducted military operations in the course of Israel’s “Peace for Galilee” campaign in Lebanon without perpetrating “horrors or slaughter.” Therefore, he said, he “did not at all imagine that the Phalangists, a trained and organized military force, facing the task of hard fighting in difficult conditions, would want or would be able to perpetrate massacre.”
Begin acknowledged that at the crucial Cabinet meeting in the evening of September 16, Deputy Premier David Levy had indeed warned of the possibility of a massacre. But Levy did not propose that the Phalangists be withdrawn from the camps or that the Cabinet even address itself to the issue.
According to Begin, “His words aroused no response on the part of any of the participants at the meetings and this in itself shows that this possibility (a massacre) was not considered likely in the circumstances by anyone present.”
Begin also stated that Eitan’s warning to the Cabinet that the Phalangists were “sharpening their knives … there is revenge in their eyes” was made in reference to the overall situation in Lebanon following Gemayel’s assassination, not specifically to the refugee camps. According to Begin, Eiton’s “words were intended to explain the urgent need for the IDF to take the actions that it took immediately in the wake of Gemayel’s assassination, ” meaning its occupation of west Beirut.
Begin’s letter concluded; “In light of the circumstances here described, and in our knowledge that the Phalangists, in coordination with our own forces, had entered certain districts to fight terrorists who were concentrated in them, there were no grounds to assume that acts of atrocity against the civilian population would be perpetrated.”
COURSE OF ACTION OF OTHER OFFICIALS
Among the others who received warnings from the commission, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Gen. Amos Yaron who was divisional commander in west Beirut at the time, informed the commission that they would submit memoranda but would not appear again in person. Shamir explained that he is leaving this Sunday on an official visit to Uruguay and Argentina and will not return to Israel until December 24. He requested “an appropriate time extension following my return” to prepare his memorandum.
Gen. Amir Drori, commander of the central command, informed the commission that he would appear, before it again. Sharon, who is also expected to reappear, was in Honduras and the U.S. this week.
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