Civil Rights Leader Says Israel Bears ‘a Degree of Responsibility’ for the Massacre in Refugee Camps

Declaring that Israel had fallen into a “very ugly trap” when it entered west Beirut, a leading Black civil rights leader said today that “Israel does indeed bear a degree of responsibility” for the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians at the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps in the Lebanese capital.

But in an address to some 125 leaders of the United Jewish Appeal women’s campaign advisory board of Greater New York, Bayard Rustin maintained that the degree of responsibility is not because of any direct Israeli involvement in the massacre, but because, when Israeli forces moved into west Beirut following the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel of Lebanon in September, they took upon themselves the responsibility to maintain order and security for the population.

Rustin, who currently serves as chairman of the board and president of the A. Philip Randolph Educational Fund, visited Israel and toured southern Lebanon as part of a seven-member group consisting of several religious faiths and representing varying constituencies. His report on his observations and meetings with various Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, was distributed today at the conclave.

LANDS ISRAEL’S DEMOCRACY

During the course of his address, Rustin pointed out that his firm commitment to Israel is not as a Jewish State but as a democracy. He said that his dedication to democracy and thus Israel is based on the precept that Black people, “and other oppressed people stand a greater chance for our own freedom.”

The civil rights leader, commenting on the huge rally by Israelis last month in Tel Aviv, which called for an investigation into the Israeli involvement, if any, into the massacre, said “I do not believe I have every heard a democratic response … like the Israeli people demonstrated to the world” at that rally which was attended by some 400,000 persons, according to reports.

Recalling that he was a primary organizer of the August, 1963 civil rights march on Washington for which he said it took six months to garner the support and participation of 250,000 persons, Rustin said he could therefore “fully appreciate the magnificent voluntary response” to what had occurred in west Beirut, adding that this Israeli demonstration occurred when not one Israeli soldier had shot anyone.

Rustin assailed the media for its coverage of Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, the some media he said was a “liberating factor” during the civil rights movements by its coverage of racist actions against Black Americans. “I have never observed a situation where the press was more unfair to any group of people as they were to the nobility of the Israeli soldiers as they moved into Lebanon,” Rustin observed. In this vein, Rustin referred to his tour of Lebanon, where he spent two days speaking with Lebanese residents, both Christian and Moslem, and noted that he could not find a single bullet hole in a mosque from the Israeli border up to the Lebanese capital. He mentioned conversations with residents of Lebanon who welcomed the Israeli forces as liberators after seven years of PLO domination in the region and PLO carnage and pillage to the communities of south Lebanon.

Referring to the Beirut Museum of Antiquities — “a treasure house of antiques from some of the world’s most ancient societies” — Rustin, in his written report, said: “The PLO took over the museum, made it into a fortress, scattered or stole many of its priceless objects, threw others outdoors into the yard and gardens, and behaved without any feeling at all for their own, and our heritage.”

He assailed the PLO lawlessness in areas it controlled in south Lebanon, and said “what law there was was PLO law, what justice there was was PLO justice. Those of us whose Black ancestors lived in areas under Ku Klux Klan control have special reasons to know what that means. For the powerless, it means intense, continuous, and unending personal insecurity. In effect, terror.”

THE ISSUE OF MIDEAST PEACE

Rustin said it was “perfectly fine” for President Reagan to propose a peace initiative to settle the Arab-Israeli dispute but stated pointedly that “you cannot expect the Israelis to be prepared to negotiate” until the Arab states have stated their unequivocal recognition of Israel’s right to exist. He said it was the responsibility of the Reagan Administration to make clear to the Arabs that they must recognize Israel’s right to exist in the region.

At the conclusion of his report on his trip to the Mideast, Rustin placed the onus for a peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli dispute and the Palestinian question squarely on the Arab states.

But he said at the same time that Israel’s government leaders “are not now planning to be more forthcoming in their talks with Egypt on West Bank autonomy.

“As Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir told us, there is nothing that Israel can afford to give up. I hope that this is only a negotiating posture, made for temporary public consumption. If it is not, if the Israelis intend to hold adamantly to their present posture, then I am very pessimistic about the future and what it portends.” Rustin’s report was dated September 17, a day after Israeli troops moved into west Beirut.