THE MASSACRE AND THE MAN THAT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

Twenty years after he was found responsible for committing a massacre in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, Ariel Sharon is continuing his bloody massacres against Palestinians.

(Chicago, September 14, 2002: IAP)- Twenty years ago, on September 16, 1982 more than two thousand innocent Palestinian and Lebanese men, women and children were murdered in cold blood in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila near Beirut. Israel's army and its then defense minister, whose military surrounded the camps and occupied Beirut at the time, planned for and supported this massacre. Israel's current elected Prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was that defense minister in 1982. He was investigated by Kahan Commission, an Israeli committee formed to investigate the massacre, and was found to be responsible for the atrocity. The committee recommended his release from the defense ministry and not to take any other governmental office ever again.

In an BBC documentary in June of last year entitled "The Accussed", which investigated Sharon's role in the massacre, Richard Falk, International Law professor at Princeton University, argued that Ariel Sharon's failure to meet the responsibility to protect civilians from abuse and death should have legal consequences.

"I think there is no question in my mind that he is indictable for the kind of knowledge that he either had or should have had," Falk Stated.

Fergal Keane, BBC reporter, further asked prof. Falk: "So let me be absolutely clear, you are in no doubt that Ariel Sharon is indictable as a war criminal."

Dr. Falk replied without hesitation, "No doubt whatsoever."

Now, after 20 years since this bloody massacre, Sharon, who now is Prime Minister despite the Kahan commission recommendation, is repeating his terrorism against civilian men, women, and children in Palestine once again, using all kinds of sophisticated weapons including the US manufactured F-16 & Apache warplanes. It is Sharon's government that has initiated unprecedented state terrorism against the Palestinian people, and has imposed a devastating economic and infrastructural siege on the Palestinians, which has brought more than 3 million people to the verge of starvation in the last 2 years.

Also in the past 2 years, the Palestinian people have had to endure a string of Israeli attacks and extrajudicial executions, which have killed over 2000 of their people, including some 300 children and at least 20 infants, and has maimed thousands of others. In addition, they have witnessed their homes being demolished, the continued illegal confiscation of their land and, due to the continual Israeli blockade, their economy left in shambles. Their very existence hangs in the balance. The Palestinian people have reached the outer limits of their frustration because of Israel's unprecedented brutality against them which, we might add, has the full cooperation and financial backing of the most powerful nation on earth - the USA.

All Americans should be concerned due to the fact that the US government has aligned itself with Israel and freely gives the Zionist state over $4 billion annually in military and economic aid with US tax dollars.

We, the Islamic Association For Palestine (IAP), a 21 year old American organization which promotes the rights of the Palestinian people, call on our government to finally halt its aid to Israel, a state that is clearly not interested in true peace.

In addition, we call on our government to work within the framework of existing international law through the United Nations to force Israel to comply with numerous Security Council resolutions regarding the occupation of Palestinian land so as to bring about a just and fair solution for the Palestinian people.

If Israeli's intentions weren't clear before, they are surely clear now. Israel's idea of peace is war, and ultimatley the complete dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homes and land. Enough is enough, the Palestinain people demand justice now.