The commission of inquiry into the west Beirut massacre will begin its hearings next week, immediately after the – Succot holiday. But it has already asked the Premier’s Office, the Defense Ministry and the army to make available all documents and other material relevant to the issues under investigation.
Most of the sessions are expected to be closed. They will be conducted in a building on the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus. The commission has been holding informal preparatory meetings this week to organize its staff and work out procedures. Premier Menachem Begin announced that at the request of certain un-named officers, army officers will be allowed to study the stenographic transcripts of Cabinet meetings they attended.
The officers will thereby be on an equal footing with Cabinet ministers in preparing for their appearances before the inquiry commission. The commission is headed by Chief Justice Yitzhak Kahan, President of the Supreme Court. Its members are Supreme Court Justice Aharon Barak and Gen. (ret.) Yonah Efrat.
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