Prof Discusses Case on '82 Mideast Killings

By Ali Alemozafar
Stanford Daily
Wednesday, April 24, 2002

Canadian professor Laurie King-Irani gave a talk yesterday on the pending case against the alleged perpetrators of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre which, according to her, has earned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the nickname "The Butcher of Beirut." Her talk was presented by the Coalition for Justice in Israel/Palestine and attracted a crowd of 60 people. A professor of social anthropology at the University of Victoria, Canada, King-Irani is the North American coordinator of the International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra and Shatila.

King-Irani gave an account of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. She said that during the invasion over 1,000 Palestinian civilians were tortured, raped and murdered in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut by Lebanese militiamen aligned with the Israeli army. At that time the Israeli army was under the command of then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, and in complete control of Beirut, she said.

"There is currently a case in Belgium against Ariel Sharon," said cultural and social anthropology graduate student Yael Ben-zvi, one of the event's coordinators. "Especially when Israel is currently conducting war crimes, like in Jenin, it is important to bring war criminals to justice."

"The 20th century brought us many examples of genocide," King-Irani said, referring to the "horrors of the Nazi holocaust" and "the atrocities the Jewish people faced."

According to King-Irani, despite the fact that the killings of the Lebanese and Palestinian civilians were carried out by Lebanese militia units affiliated directly or indirectly with the Israeli-backed Christian Lebanese Forces, the legal, military and decision-making responsibility ultimately rests with Ariel Sharon under established and recognized principles of international law.

"Israel's high command in Beirut knew what was going on . . . therefore, the Israeli high command and Ariel Sharon are guilty," King-Irani said.

On June 18, 2001, the 23 survivors of the Sabra and Shatila massacres filed a case charging Sharon and other Israeli and Lebanese officials with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the massacres committed in Sabra and Shatila.

"This is not a case lodged against Ariel Sharon alone but others as well," King-Irani said. "It is not a case motivated by any anti-Semitic sentiments."

According to King-Irani, the case attempts to realize and implement the principle of universal jurisdiction under tenets enshrined in the fourth Geneva Convention and international law. Similar cases include those of Chile's ex-president General Augusto Pinochet and former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

"The Belgium court in 1999 passed a law removing immunity from heads of state," King-Irani added.

In light of recent world events, coverage of the genocide in Sabra and Shatila by the U.S. media is sparse, she said.

"So many Americans don't even know that there was a massacre in Sabra and Shatila," King-Irani said.

"The American public is to a large degree vested in that," Ben-zvi said. "They should know how their tax dollars are used."