Dr. Saeb Erekat ​​​​​​​on the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, Beirut, September 16, 17 & 18, 1982

The memory of the brutal Sabra and Shatila massacre still resonates in our minds and hearts. It is embedded in every Palestinian memory and soul. Thirty-five years ago, the vicinity of the two refugee camps in Beirut was filled with the scent of death and bodies of thousands of butchered and injured Palestinian children, women, and men. A criminal act engineered by Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Military General at the time, who facilitated the barbaric butchering of defenseless refugees by Phalangist forces under his watch. Today is a reminder to the world of a criminal who escaped justice and got away with it.

Sabra and Shatila massacre will not be wiped off from our conscious. It is a reminder of the more than 400 Palestinian villages destroyed by Zionist paramilitaries and of the Palestinian exodus who were uprooted and forced out their homes. It is also a reminder of the absence of justice and accountability. Sharon and the Israeli leaders who masterminded this massacre should have been tried in international courts. Instead, Sharon was awarded to become Israel’s tenth prime minister.

Resolving the Palestinian refugee issue should only be through the implementation of international law and United Nations resolution 194. In this context, we call on the international community to restore justice, accountability and to end the culture of impunity granted to Israel.