All language subtitles for لبنان- مذبحة صبرا وشاتيلا

We a re in the Sabra Palestinian
refugee camp in Beirut,

where horrific scenes
have played out.

This no longer has
anything to do with war.

What youíre about to
see is absolutely terrible.

There is no political
or human explanation.

It is pure hatred.

It is indescribable, but it has
to be told, it has to be shown.

Beirut occupied
by Israel.

Bachir Gemayel
murdered.

It was a
tumultuous year.

The aim was to cleanse Lebanon
right into the heart of the capital.

People said things like:

We wi ll storm the camps
and eliminate their residents.

We will turn Sabra and
Shatila into golf courses.

We had to stand up against the
wall, and someone said: Shoot them.

Shots were fired, the screaming
stopped.

They were dead.

It was like something
out of Dante, Goya.

It was a scene
of horror.

Christian East Beirut and the
Phalangists celebrate the election

of Bachir Gemayel to
the post of president.

Itís a victory for the Christians
after seven years of war.

At the time, no one could
have known that their president

would be assassinated a few
weeks later, on September 14.

I met him a few days
after the election,

and I can still remember how
impressed I was by his love

and determination
for Lebanon.

But compared to his brother
and father, Bachir was a fighter.

Who would turn
out to be implacable.

Right at the
start of the war,

Bachir Gemayel established himself as
the leader of the Christian militias.

He had huge charisma and
was revered by his supporters.

A young man who
wanted rapid change,

who was ambitious and
didnít shy away from violence.

Our nation will be
a democratic one.

It will regain all its
sovereignty and independence

throughout its constitutionally and
internationally recognized territory.

We want our sovereignty and no
one meddling in our domestic affairs.

Weíre old enough
to manage on own.

Will Syrian
troops withdraw?

Theyíll all go.

I was very close to Bashir
Gemayel, we worked closely together.

Bachir presented
himself as the candidate

who wanted to give Lebanon
back to the Lebanese.

Right from the outset he made it
clear that he rejected the presence

of the Syrians and the Palestinians
and all that that entailed.

Though I donít want
to presume anything.

In April 1975, Lebanon a
country that had been regarded

as a model of religious coexistence
was plunged into civil war.

From 1976 to 2005, Syria occupied
north and east-central Lebanon;

the south of the country
was briefly occupied by Israel.

In Beirut, the capital that
had been split into two,

the Phalangist Christian militia,
the Maronites, Druze, Sunni, Shia,

pro-Syrian forces and Palestinians
clashed and set the city ablaze.

When Bachir Gemayel,
commander of the Phalangist militia,

was elected President in 1982,

it was a prospect that
raised both hope and fear.

My name is
Maher Al Sourour.

Iím Palestinian and I come
from northern Palestine.

Iím from a small village
in the Safed region

in the former
Palestinian Mandate.

My family fled to Lebanon in 1948

and I was born in the
Shatila refugee camp,

where I still
live today.

After the election
of Bachir Gemayel,

strange, suspicious people suddenly
appeared in the neighborhood.

There were rumors that the
Lebanese army was spying.

Before Bachir Gemayel, there
was never any mention of the military

or any kind
of terrorists.

Thatís why we were
nervous after his election.

We were afraid because
everyone knew the stories

about the Phalangists
and other militias.

After 1948, some of the
Palestinians driven from their homes

and scattered throughout
the region after the foundation

of the State of Israel
sought refuge in Lebanon.

The Palestinian
Liberation Organization

or PLO was founded in 1964.

In the years that followed,
the military wing of the PLO

under Chairman Yasser Arafat carried
out terrorist attacks on Israel.

After 1970, the PLO
operated primarily out of Beirut.

In 1982, after Israeli
forces invaded,

an agreement over the withdrawal
of the PLO was eventually mediated

under the auspices of US
special envoy Philip Habib.

Under the terms
of the agreement,

Palestinian fighters would leave by
ship for Tunisia or overland to Syria,

while their families and
other civilians could remain

in the refugee camps
under international protection.

The agreement called
for a multinational force

under US leadership to
monitor the PLO fightersí pullout.

Good morning, today weíre reporting on
the deaths of two significant people,

albeit on very
different scales.

First, Gemayel.

You donít need to
be a political expert

to understand that after eight years

of civil war and a
Syrian-Israeli occupation,

this president could
not be the entire solution.

Only a leadership that is
prepared to compromise

and able to maintain balance
among the religious communities

can achieve
the impossible.

As leader, adventurer and above
all as candidate for the Israelis,

his nomination was
fraught with risk.

Even though little
was said about this,

all Middle East
observers were aware of it.

And he wasnít granted
much time to master

his new duties and
assume his role.

On September 14,
our world fell apart.

A newly elected president
was murdered in such a way.

The headline in
the newspaper read:

ëLike a cedar being felledí and
thatís exactly how it was for us.

On September 14th, I was in my
office when I heard about the attack.

They said the entire command
center building collapsed on him.

It was a
great tragedy.

The explosion was heard
across the entire city.

For hours, the craziest
rumors did the rounds:

Heís not dead

No, heís just injured

Heís not
even injured, heís unharmed.

Until the moment he was
found under the rubble.

It was devastating.

On September 14th, Lebanon
was riddled with different militias.

There were several Christian
militias that Bachir Gemayel

had united through bloodshed
with his own Christian militia,

the Forces
Libanaises.

The Shias had the Amal militia and
the Druze also had their own militia.

The Sunnis were the only
ones without one of their own.

They were members
of the Murabitun militia,

which wasnít just
Muslims, but also Christians.

Another mixed militia
was the pro-Damascus

ëSyrian Social
Nationalist Partyí or SSNP.

Of course, Damascusís
political leaders took issue

with the election of Bachir Gemayel
because it had been widely known

that he was very close
to the Israelis since 1981.

So he had to be
eliminated at all costs.

In the 17 days between August
23rd, the day he was elected,

and September 14th,
the day he was murdered,

he presented himself as a president
who wanted to reunite as many Lebanese

as possible, to establish
a robust, neutral state.

His speeches resonated with
large numbers of Lebanese youth,

which is why his
murder shocked so many

and is seen as a turning
point in Lebanese history.

Itís part of the mundane daily
routine in the life of a journalist:

something happens in the world,

and you
try and get there as fast as possible.

Often that turns out
to be complicated,

if there are no more flights
or ships going to a war zone.

You have to set all the wheels in
motion and outwit others to get there.

When we heard about the
attack on Bachir Gemayel,

my friend the
photographer Marc Simon

and I wanted to go to
Lebanon immediately.

We knew weíd get as far as
Cyprus by plane and from there,

we planned to find a
boat to take us to Beirut.

The Israelis had
already invaded Lebanon,

but not yet advanced
as far as Beirut.

We knew weíd be putting
ourselves in a very delicate position.

The Israelis and the
Phalangists were extremely angry

because their leader
had been killed.

While at sea, we received
the devastating news:

Grace Kelly had been
killed in a car accident.

Rather than the death
of Grace Kelly itself,

we were more shocked
at the media competition.

In other words: what with all
the articles about Grace Kelly

in the newspapers, there
wouldnít be much room

for our stories on
international politics.

We tried to block that
out as much as we could

and did our job just
as we always did.

But sure, it was quite
a blow to our spirits.

We were facing
stiff competition.

Grace Kelly led an
extraordinary life:

she was a gifted actress and the wife
of Prince Rainier the Third of Monaco.

Grace Kelly died of injuries
sustained in a car accident.

This death wonít do anything
to alter the fate of mankind,

itís just another tragedy
to befall a famous family.

On September 15th, so a
day after the murder of Bachir,

we still didnít know who was
responsible for the assassination.

As intelligence agents we
couldnít jump to hasty conclusions.

I was deputy chief of the Forces
Libanaises intelligence service

at the time.

When we later
identified the murderer,

we had to keep the
information to ourselves.

People were very careful to keep
it a secret even at the highest level.

Even the Gemayel
family kept it quiet.

So only we and our
soldiers knew the truth.

The rest of the population assumed
the Palestinians were to blame.

After all, the Palestinians were the
biggest losers

in the Israeli invasion.

And because Bachir
was an ally of the Israelis,

everyone blamed the
attack on the Palestinians.

In the wake of the assassination

of Lebanese President-Elect
Bashir Gemayel,

Israeli troops advanced
toward West Beirut.

Their goal was to occupy
the entire Lebanese capital.

The person giving the orders was
Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.

Sharon pushed on to Beirut believing
that nothing would stand in his way,

and that the capital could be reached
without sustaining significant losses.

The official goal of the Israeli
invasion was to extinguish Fatah,

the Palestinian National Liberation
Movement, in South Lebanon.

The government of Menachem
Begin and Ariel Sharon was egotistic,

arrogant and
extremely violent.

They were determined to use
armed force to get their way

and create a new Lebanon
that would follow Israeli interests

as an ally
of Israel.

After Bachir was murdered,

the Israelis
let us know that things had changed.

They said: Weíre not sure that
the new president will pursue

the same
interests as Bachir.

Thatís why you now
need to send your soldiers

into the Palestinian
camps to monitor them.

The Israelis demanded: Now you have
to fulfil your side of the bargain,

you promised.

Now itís time to prove
that youíre our allies.

Hobeika, who was head
of the security agency

of the Christian militia
Forces Libanaises,

promised them: I can assemble
militiamen from all Christian regions,

not just members of
the Forces Libanaises.

Theyíll do the job.

We met the Phalangists on the night
of 14th to the 15th of September.

Theyíd asked
us for help.

At this meeting people said
things like: Weíll storm the camps

and eliminate
their residents.

Weíll turn Sabra and
Shatila into golf courses.

Elie Hobeika
was in charge.

Other high-ranking officials
such as Chaftari and Geagea

were also present
but didnít say a word.

When Bachir died, the Israeli army
and the Israeli intelligence agency

Mossad used their
connections with particular units

of the Forces
Libanaises.

The Israelis turned
to the armed forces

that had been given military
training by Mossad in Israel.

At the time,
the Israelis said:

We must take revenge, we must
avenge Bachir, this is unacceptable.

Of course it was
all a big show,

but thatís how they managed to
bring some Lebanese armed units

from southern Lebanon
under their control.

These armed units trained by Mossad
were the ones who later carried out

the Sabra and
Shatila massacre.

At the time, the Phalangists attracted
attention with public slogans.

For example, a play on words
with the Israeli defence minister

Ariel Sharon and
ëArielí laundry detergent.

The slogan was ëAriel
will wash Lebanon whiteí.

You could feel something
was about to happen.

Thursday,
September 16th.

The Israeli army is
advancing on Beirut.

The assassination of Bachir Gemayel
leaves it temporarily in control

of southern
Lebanon.

The Israeli military is imposing a
curfew on Christians and Muslims

to prevent reprisal
attacks and violence.

I could see Israeli tanks
passing by from my office window.

It was crazy.

It was the first time
that an Arab capital

had been occupied by Israel and
there were many absurd moments.

That same morning, two people
knocked on the door of my office.

They said: Weíd like to place an
advertisement in your newspaper.

I asked: An
advertisement for what?

They replied: For
Israeli cookies and pasta.

Just imagine! They came to
my office on the very same day

that the Israelis marched into
Beirut and wanted me to publish that.

I was furious about
the Israeli takeover,

and they wanted
me to run that?

We sent them
packing, of course.

The invasion of Beirut by Israeli
troops was a traumatic experience

for the entire
Arab world.

In 1982, the Israelis were
firmly set on cleansing Lebanon

right into the
heart of the capital.

When we arrived
at the port of Beirut,

Israeli troops had already
begun their advance into the city.

At that point in time, the
death of Bachir Gemayel

had become a
secondary concern;

that his brother was now going to
be president was also unimportant.

The big event was the
Israelisí invasion of Beirut.

We entered a city at war,
where things were pretty violent.

But how do you get to the front
when youíre already behind the line

of attack?

Of course, we didnít want to
stay back with the Israeli soldiers,

that wasnít
interesting.

We wanted to report
from the other side.

We found a taxi, though
calling it that is an overstatement.

A guy drove us in his car
straight into an active battle zone

between the Israeli army and
the Lebanese defense forces,

in this case a simple
citizensí militia.

It definitely wasnít
a trained militia.

The government of Menachem
Begin has decided to finish off

what it has started: the annihilation
of all resistance in West Beirut.

You want to
control all Beirut?

Take out the dirt from Beirut once and
for all and to get back to our boat

and leave peacefully
and quietly.

It was Sharonís plan from
the outset to capture Beirut.

He wanted to go to Beirut
to completely liquidate

the remaining Palestinians
living in Sabra and Shatila.

Before the start of the invasion
there were very intensive talks

with Bachir on the involvement
of Lebanese armed forces

in Israeli army missions,

and particularly during
delicate operations.

Sharon insisted that
the Forces Libanaises

should be involved in the
cleansing of Sabra and Shatila.

It was one of Sharonís primary goals

to break Palestinian
resistance in Lebanon.

When we arrived in the
Sunni neighborhood of Basta,

we found ourselves in
the midst of the battle.

The Murabitun militia in particular
were putting up robust resistance

and fought as though they were the
last bastion against the Israeli army.

Thatís why we had to
take a break in Basta,

and we spent the night in
the house of a local man.

I noticed the
glow that night.

That night in Basta,
we saw the flares.

Without realizing it, we were
witnessing the massacre.

As night fell, we saw flares and heard
shots being fired in the alleyways.

It was light
for a moment,

and we made sure the children
were playing safely in their houses.

At some point, my
sister called out for me.

She was looking outside
through the doorway and said:

Maher, look at
that, theyíre all dead.

I thought she was trying to
scare me, and I went over to her.

In the light of a flare I was able to
recognize my neighbor Abou Reda

lying on
the ground.

He was crying
out for help.

I went over to him.

There were dead
bodies lying on top of him.

Because it was so dark, I
could only make out his eyes.

He said heíd
been shot.

His body was lying under a mountain of
corpses with only his head poking out.

They shot us,
help me, he said.

There were more dead people behind our
house, directly beneath our window.

We didnít hear anything
when we were inside the house,

although the bodies were
lying just five meters away.

On my way back to the house
I was stepping on corpses.

But I didnít realize that
until the next morning.

We lived in permanent
fear from that moment on.

I didnít have a clue
what was happening,

but my father understood
the gravity of the situation.

It was a massacre.

As the shooting raged on outside,
he smoked and paced the hallway.

The next morning I was tired
and stayed sitting in my chair.

My father hadnít
slept all night either.

A neighbor came by and
wanted to go up on our roof.

She wanted to see if her
house had been destroyed.

She went up on the roof and
encountered armed men there.

They wanted to
know who she was.

Within a matter of seconds,
they were in our house.

Jerusalem, Friday,
September 17, 9 a.m.

The media still has no
information about the massacres

in Beirutís Palestinian
refugee camps.

After the assassination of Bachir
Gemayel there was an imminent danger

of total anarchy.

We were forced to take harsh
steps to ensure order and security

in the first
instance.

And also to prevent a resurgence
of terrorist cells in Beirut.

On the morning of September 17,
we left Basta to return to our hotel.

That was the first time we heard
about the quote unquote ëriotsí.

No one was calling it a massacre
at the time, just riots in the camps.

Marc and I wondered what
the relentless shooting was,

coming from the
direction of the camps.

We took a taxi to
the south of Beirut,

to the entrance of the
Sabra and Shatila camps.

The atmosphere there
was one of desolation.

We were stopped by
militiamen who unnerved us.

You could tell that
the guys were on edge.

They were all
high on drugs.

They were boiling over with anger
because their leader Bachir Gemayel

had been killed.

These men were from
Elie Hobeikaís militia.

They were notorious for
their lawlessness and brutality,

even among the
Forces Libanaises.

The Phalangists
were a militia.

Its founder was Pierre Gemayel,
the father of Bachir Gemayel.

Heíd travelled to Berlin in 1936 and
took a liking to all the young people

in uniform who obeyed orders,
sang beautiful songs and took up arms.

He set out to import this
ideology into Lebanon.

After his return from Germany,
he founded the Phalangist party,

recruited members
and trained them.

As time went on, the Phalangists
became proxies for the Israelis.

In fact, they became
Israeli fighters.

As the Israeli
Chief of Staff said:

Anyone insulting or
attacking a Phalangist

is attacking an Israeli soldier,
because the Phalangists

are our soldiers and we are
theirs, we belong together.

Of course, the Phalangists
were trained in Israel

and equipped
by the Israelis.

Our ties with the Phalangists
didnít just begin on September 15,

but many years
before that.

For example, they
supported us by being the first

to advance into
western Beirut.

Our good relationship lasted
throughout the entire war.

When I arrived
at headquarters,

I was told that the Phalangists
would invade the camps and not us,

which I was very
relieved about.

It was never about
carrying out a massacre.

It was our duty to ensure that
no one in the camp was armed.

And if we did find
someone with a weapon,

we would either
arrest or kill them.

It was my job to gather all
the information from the camps.

As well as the
soldiers from the roof,

another unit came through
the door of the house.

They questioned us.

They asked my father
what he did for a living.

He replied that he repaired telephones
and that he had gone to school

in the Achrafieh district; he was an
ordinary working man, nothing more.

They didnít arrest him, but they
asked him if he had any money.

He said he had some in the
bedroom and he went to fetch it.

A soldier followed him and
called out: And now, kill them.

I fled from the bedroom through
the kitchen into the bathroom and hid.

I was sure they would find and
kill me, but miraculously they didnít.

They were just
blinded by fury.

My brothers and sisters hid
in another corner of the house.

Thatís when the fear really
took hold, we were trapped.

I heard my mother and father
crying out: By god, leave us in peace,

weíve done nothing wrong, then shots
were fired, and the crying stopped.

Theyíd killed them.

From the bathroom I watched
as my brothers and sisters

went down
one by one.

After a while
my sister Shadia,

who was lying between my
father and mother, moved.

She touched my
father and said ëPapaí,

but he was dead

Theyíd
shot him in the back.

Then she turned to my
mother and did the same.

In vain.

And she stayed there,
lying between them.

It was a
horrific scene.

We stayed where we were for
a while without saying a word.

When we left the house, we
discovered more and more dead people.

At the back of the house lay
our neighbor and friend SaÔd.

We had to step over
several corpses to get to him.

SaÔd was lying next
to another neighbor

whose face was
pressed into the asphalt.

I didnít recognize
all the faces,

but I could see the logos
of the Forces Libanaises,

the Phalangists
and other militias.

This massacre was carried
out by the Forces Libanaises

under the command
of Elie Hobeika.

He was head of security
for the Forces Libanaises

and driven by a
desire for revenge.

Although the death of
Bachir was the trigger,

his attitude was nothing
new and sooner or later

there would have
been a reckoning.

Hobeika, we called him HK after
the Heckler & Koch machine gun

that he carried, was
extremely charismatic

and represented the
military like no other.

He was the military, and I
was the intelligence service.

The unit for this operation consisted
of men who didnít fit into our system

and who also didnít
live in our system.

Many of them had absolved
very good service during the war

and some of them
were even true heroes.

They were available and were sent
to the camp to conduct the operation.

I donít know if the cleansing
order came from Elie Hobeika alone.

But I heard him say the following:
no mercy for the prisoners.

The message to
his men was clear.

The Phalangistsí radio
communication took place exclusively

on the
frequency 3500.

Thanks to my driver and
interpreter, I was able to listen in.

Thatís how I discovered that
the Phalangists were killing

their prisoners, including
women and children.

The massacre took
place in this street.

The victims were lying here, I
can still remember it very well.

They were herded together, children
and women, even pregnant women.

The victims lay there,
and over there too.

That was the
house of Abu Karim,

this one here was the
house of our friend Jaber.

There were bodies
lying here too.

The militiamen just went into
the houses and killed the residents.

This street was
full of corpses.

They entered here?

Yes, or they left through the
street, I canít remember exactly.

This was our
house here.

They came to us
along this alleyway.

My father was old and disabled
and we children were still very young.

We heard screams
from the neighbors.

My brother Nidal and another
neighbor went to the door

to see what
was going on.

Then there was a hammering on
our door and my father opened it.

We thought they were Israelis,
but they spoke in Lebanese dialect.

As they entered, I was very
scared and hid behind my father.

He said to me: Donít be afraid,
theyíll just ask us a few questions

and be on
their way.

They asked my father if
he was a member of a militia

and he replied
that he wasnít,

and that in any case he had
a paralyzed hand which meant

he couldnít even hold
a gun let alone fire one.

They started hurling
insults and eventually said:

Stand up
against the wall.

As we did so, one
of them cried out:

Shoot them, and another
said: give me your gun.

I was carrying my sister Shadia,
she was one year and two months old,

can you imagine?

She really couldnít do anyone
any harm and they still shot at her.

Shadia screamed for our mother,
and I held her tight to calm her down.

Then they shot at her again
and she fell out of my arms.

She cried out twice ëMama, Mamaí
and when he shot at her a third time,

her voice fell
silent forever.

I fell down next to her
and pretended to be dead.

When the men had
gone, I stood up.

It was the worst
thing in the world,

I was surrounded by my
dead brothers and sisters.

I couldnít protect
my dear little sister.

Thatís what hurts the
me most to this day,

I shouldíve protected
her and died with her.

The Israelis
let it happen.

They could have prevented the
militias from entering the camp

or even getting
anywhere near them.

I mean, they were there on the ground
and controlling the entire thing.

The Israelis must have
realized from the outset

what they were
dealing with here.

Even if they didnít
know beforehand,

the entire time they had all the
means at their disposal to prevent it.

Before the massacre took
on these gigantic proportions.

It was one of the worst
experiences of my life.

Iím giving this interview as a
way of processing the matter

and freeing
myself from it.

This event has had a profound
emotional and moral impact on me.

On the morning
of September 18,

we entered the camps with
a number of other journalists.

We hailed a taxi and drove
immediately to Sabra and Shatila.

What we found there
was totally unimaginable.

We couldnít
believe our eyes.

It was surreal, there
was no one on the streets.

We entered the camp and took
the first alleyway on the right.

And what was revealed
to us there was hell,

apocalypse and
slaughterhouse all at once.

These are photos of sheer
horror.

This family above all.

The child thatís
holding on to its sister,

the mother who couldnít
protect her, the father,

the baby, the whole family
lay there.

Itís a mass grave.

This woman was
raped and killed.

It was hot, the corpses
were already bloated.

An elderly Palestinian man
who was looking for his family

led us through
the camp.

Like a bookkeeper, I
wanted to document

and understand the full
extent of this massacre.

The invaders had mowed everything
down, theyíd even shot the pets

with their
machine guns.

I tried to count the corpses,
but I stopped after a few hundred.

We went deeper into the camp and
there were children lying everywhere,

women whoíd been
raped, old people.

It was horror,
horror, horror.

Towards midday we heard
the first weeping women.

Behind every door we opened
we saw another massacre.

Children shot
dead in their beds.

That was all so

It was
absolute hell.

We started making our own enquiries
and discovered markings on the walls.

A cedar symbol together with arrows

and the abbreviation
MP for military police.

We followed the arrows
in the opposite direction.

The markings began in the east, in
other words in the Phalangist zone,

and passed
behind the airport.

There were evidently troops whoíd
spent the night in hangars and sheds

and then returned to
the camps in the morning.

The Phalangists had never been in
West Beirut and without the markings,

they wouldnít
have found the way.

The markings led us over these
hills with a view over the airport

and finally to the
Israeli headquarters.

Itís a six-story building with
a roof terrace on the 7th floor.

It was guarded around
the clock by an Israeli tank.

In the former Israeli headquarters
we found detailed plans

for the invasion of the
Sabra and Shatila camps.

Even though it had been agreed

that the
Israelis would never enter the camps.

We discovered drawings
on the walls with arrows

for the different
military units.

It was definitely a plan,
maybe not for an invasion,

but definitely
for an attack.

We were shocked.

Then we went up on the
roof of the old UN building,

from where we had a perfect
view of Sabra and Shatila.

So the Israelis had an unimpeded view
of what was happening in the camps,

minute by minute.

We walked around,
the Red Cross

had in the meantime begun
wrapping the corpses in sheets.

I recognized the body of my
younger sister and my neighbor Leila,

but I couldnít find
my older sister.

I looked for a corpse in
her size in a red dress,

because often the faces of the
dead were no longer recognizable.

Theyíd even torn half
the head off one victim.

There were dead
children everywhere,

but I couldnít find my
sister among them.

I had the opportunity to
talk to one of the militiamen

who was involved
in the whole thing.

He had killed and
massacred people.

He was heavily under the influence of
drugs throughout the entire operation.

And he probably
wasnít the only one.

Itís like that in
all the militias.

But he confessed
it to me.

I found waking up
the next day very hard.

Normally, you could say youíre
lucky to be waking up at all.

But only if you
want to wake up.

For us it was the
battle of all battles.

Harder than
the whole war.

I wonder, whatís
more difficult?

Admitting your mistakes to God,
or admitting them to yourself?

And worse, admitting
them to others?

History books generally
portray the massacre

as a consequence of the
murder of Bachir Gemayel,

on the grounds that his
particularly angry supporters

set out to
avenge his death.

There was a whole
series of extremist literature

coming from the Lebanese right wing
and Israel characterizing Palestinians

as parasites and saying that
the camps needed to be cleansed.

These are the words
that preceded the killing.

And now weíre talking about
between 800 to 3000 victims,

according to
the source.

A massacre of
huge dimensions.

When Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin was criticized

by international media for what
had happened in Sabra and Shatila,

he came up with a
terrible formulation.

He said: Goyim kill goyim and
they come to hang the Jews.

So basically, itís Arabs
killing other Arabs.

Why are you
blaming us Israelis?

I have many regrets, not
just concerning this incident,

but the war
as a whole.

Throughout the entire war I
always tried not to kill civilians,

but I still gave
this order.

So I did kill.

With full awareness
of what I was doing.

Assaad Chaftari confirmed
everything to me and realized

that he had also
committed murder.

He went down on his knees
in front of me to apologize

and I respect
him for that.

Weíre not used to coming to terms with
the past as is customary in the West.

Acknowledging the past,
admitting responsibility,

asking for forgiveness,
receiving forgiveness, reconciling,

making amends weíre
not used to all that.

I respect him for
apologizing to me,

but most of those responsible
in senior positions carry on

as though
nothing happened.

Thereís no future
without forgiveness.

But we humans donít
know how to forgive.

We prefer
to forget.

Thatís no way to
resolve conflicts.