Sharon and Eitan knew the mindset of Elie Hobeika and his phalangist butchers one day after the assassination of Bashir Gemayel. Read Ze`ev Schiff and Ehud Ya`ari "Israel`s Lebanon War".
To make sure the phalangists would mean business Sharon - just before he sent them into Sabra and Shatila - told AP that the PLO was responsible for Bashir`s assassination.
Add to that Israel`s responsibility under the Geneva Conventions for the safety of the civilian population in the areas of West-Beirut it had just conquered and we know who carries prime responsibility for the massacre.
To be sure, Hobeika and his butchers should have stood trial as the war criminals they are. It never came to that. Hobeika met a violent end in a car bomb, not long after he had suggested his willingness to become a witness in the Brussels tribunal, where charges against Sharon had been filed. Although the tribunal was called off after American pressure, Sharon`s record of infamy stands. |
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