TCR. 00:02:00:00 *
Voice Over (Images of Bierut)
00:02:23:-- Dividing men, women and children … killing them, because of race, religion or nationality … how many times have we heard this story before and how many times are we going to hear it still?
00:02:40:-- The 1982 massacre of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut was officially defined a genocide by the United Nations. Yet, the victims had to wait 19 years for a chance to be heard.
00:03:07:-- In June 2001, 23 survivors of the massacre filed a complaint in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and 19 others accusing them of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
00:03:26:11 (Title) SENS PRODUCTIONS
Presents
00:03:32:14 (Title) in association with
CORRINO FILMS
00:03:48:14 (Title) a film by
Hanro Smitsman
Peter Speetjens
00:04:10:16 (Title) 2000 Terrorists
Voice Over (Mahmoud walking through Shatila camp)
00:04:29:-- Mahmoud Younes is one of the plaintiffs in the case against Sharon. He was born in Shatila in 1971. In 1987, five years after the massacre, he left for Cuba where he became a dentist and met his wife. In 1993, Mahmoud returned to Shatila to take care of his mother … who died two years ago.
Mahmoud (At the place of his old house)
00:05:10:-- This is what is left of the house we used to live in.
Everything has changed. The current inhabitants are Bedouins…
…they are not the Palestinians that used to live here.
Most of them died or left the country.
The ones who remained now live in Shatila camp.
Voice Over (Images of Sabra and Shatila)
00:05:41:-- After the creation of Israel in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled to Lebanon. They mainly ended up in the country’s dozen or so refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila among them.
Over the past 50 years the camps has changed. What started with plastic and cardboard has turned into an overcrowded labyrinth of concrete blocks … And, during the Civil War many poor Lebanese moved in. Lebanon has always refused to grant the Palestinians citizenship. Officially they’re not even allowed to work.
Umm Hussein (On the roof of her house)
00:06:35:-- They don’t allow anyone to repair.
Every year I borrow some money to fix the roof…
…but if the police were to come, they would destroy it.
They don’t allow us to repair anything.
What can we do?
What if it starts raining?
We sit in the rain.
We have enough to worry about.
Voice over
00:07:04:-- Umm Hussein is a second plaintiff in the case against Sharon. She is originally from the north of Lebanon. In the nineteen sixties she married a Lebanese Muslim from the south and has been living on the edge of Shatila Camp for many years.
Umm Hussein (Looking at photographs with her friend)
00:07:25:-- These pictures refresh my memory of twenty years ago.
Is a photo better than reality?
This is my husband.
He used to be a jockey.
Here he is dancing the debkeh with his friends at a party.
This is my husband, his friends Mohammed and Ahmed.
He’s an Egyptian photographer.
This is me.
I am originally from a Christian family.
I met my husband downtown, after I went to the cinema.
And destiny played its role.
He gave me the most beautiful life.
Even if he were blind and crippled…
…I would still love him.
I don’t remember a day he cursed or treated me badly.
He was so good to me.
And then this awful massacre was committed.
Voice Over (Sana Sersawi walking through Sabra camp)
00:09:50:-- Sana Sersawi, a third plaintiff, was born in Shatila in a family of six. She has three children from her first marriage and four from her second. She now lives in neighbouring Sabra where she makes a living sewing clothes.
Sana’s children (In the living room)
00:10:08:--
20 years ago…
…in the camp Shatila…
20 years ago in Shatila camp…
20 years ago…
…there was a great massacre.
Sana (Sewing)
00:10:32:-- I used to work for Samet.
There I met my husband.
I sewed and made sweaters.
My husband worked on the big manual machines…
…until they got the electric ones.
He worked in the men’s section, I worked in the women’s.
There was a big table during lunch.
There is a power failure, does it matter for the film?
Sana in the living room.
Once I told my parents I had to work late…
…and we really had to work late.
But around 5 o’clock the extra order was cancelled…
…so we could go home early.
But I already told my parents I had to work late.
My husband found out I had told them…
…so he said: Let’s go out together.
I told him I wasn’t allowed to.
But he asked: Let’s go to the cinema.
So we went to see Azzab Imar’a by Mahmoud Yassin…
…at the cinema Montreal in Hamra.
When I got home I pretended to have had a very busy day…
…while we had spent the whole evening in the cinema.
We talked and held hands but we didn’t see anything of the movie
So we were sitting in the cinema, but we didn’t see the film.
They took him when he was 24 years old.
He is from 1958…
…so today he would be about 42.
My youngest daughter was 8 months old when it happened.
My son Ali. I was 3 months pregnant with him.
He was born without knowing his father.
(Somebody is knocking on the door)
Who’s there?
That’s my niece.
She also lost her father in the massacre.
He was Egyptian.
She was 4 years old when it happened.
Now she is married and has 2 children.
She also only knows her father from a photo.
Voice Over (In the kitchen)
00:13:27:-- Umm Ali is from the south of Lebanon. She married a Palestinian man who got killed in the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War. Umm Ali lives with her youngest daughter and her family.
Umm Ali (Showing a photograph of her daughter)
00:14:01:-- This is my daughter Zeinab.
My daughter has a strong personality.
She was very proud.
She liked going to the cinema to see Indian films.
She even used to dress like Indians.
Zeinab always told me: I like Indian films and I like to dress like that!
Once she was coming back from the cinema…
…and she was stopped at a Syrian checkpoint.
She was dressed Indian.
They asked her: Are you Indian or Lebanese?
She said: No, I’m Palestinian!
Sana (In her living room)
00:15:10:-- The other plaintiffs came to tell me they wanted to put Sharon on trial…
…for his role in the massacre.
I asked them about the trial.
They told me that Chibli Mallat is the lawyer…
…and that they needed my signature for the Belgian lawyer.
I approved and signed the papers.
But then I started laughing and they asked me why.
I told them: It has been 19 years now!
Now you want to go after those responsible for the massacre.
I told them: I don’t think this will change anything.
Now, after 19 years, Sharon is the Israeli Prime Minister…
…and he is diplomatically immune.
So I told them I hope we will succeed.
We are like drowning people…
…who will hold on to anything.
Chibli Mallat (In his office)
00:16:34:13 (Title) Chibli Mallat
Lawyer of the plaintiffs
00:16:32:-- But the reason why it took so long… to be able to bring a case is twofold. On the one hand this sort of a case requires a lot of work to prepare the file. And it took us about a year to prepare a serious file that could be useful and convincing for a judge. But more importantly there were no courts before which we could bring the case before. As you know international criminal law is a recent development in international law. And the Pinochet case is a very recent one… that was the first ever. And the Milosovic case, which coincided with the Sharon, was the second important one. And there are a few all over the world. But it took us lot of time to find out what the most useful jurisdiction.. what the most useful law was for the case of Sabra and Shatila… and it appeared that the Belgian law and the Belgian court were the most appropriate.
00:17:41:14 (Title) Hall of Justice, Belgium
Michael Verhaeghe (Image of the Hall of justice in Belgium)
00:17:56:13 (Title) Michael Verhaeghe
Lawyer of the plaintiffs.
00:17:51:01 We filled the complaint on June 18…
00:17:54:13 …after a lot of preparation.
00:17:57:03 In such a high profile case…
00:17:59:08 …you cannot just accuse someone without solid proof.
00:18:04:06 Ultimately, we believe there are strong indications…
00:18:08:00 …of guilt of Mr. Sharon, Mr. Yaron and 18 others…
00:18:12:09 …regarding active participation in crimes against humanity…
00:18:17:09 …war crimes and genocide.
Voice Over
00:18:20:-- The complaint was based on the unique Belgian Genocide Law from 1993, which allows any suspects of genocide and war crimes, committed anywhere in the world to be put in trial in Belgium.
00:18:36:-- From the start the law has been highly controversial, as it makes no exception for ministers and heads of state, and thus undermines the principle of diplomatic immunity.
Shimon Perez
00:18:49:-- We were for our life. And Sharon was one of the best fighters. So what is their claim? We could have avoid war, we could prevent it.
00:18:52:20 (Title) Shimon Perez
Former Israeli Minister
Interviewer
00:19:00:-- So law suit in Belgium would be very bad for the Belgian position?
Shimon Perez
00:19:03:-- I think so, very much so. I think it’s a terrible mistake, terrible mistake. I am not referring to the legal side, I am referring to the moral side.
Vincent van Quickenborne
00:19:16:14 (Title) Vincent van Quickenborne
Belgian Senator
00:19:14:22 In cases like this, you often hear that it’s not good for Belgian diplomacy.
00:19:23:02 But the question is: Can one negotiate about genocide?
00:19:32:01 Is this part of the diplomatic space?
00:19:34:12 Or are the perpetrators of these crimes beyond the law?
00:19:39:01 I think, raising the question is answering it.
00:19:42:16 There is no amnesty for these crimes.
00:19:46:09 You cannot be forgiven for your sins.
00:19:51:00 For these crimes no limitation applies.
00:19:54:19 In other words, mankind cannot forgive them.
00:19:57:05 Not to forgive, not to forget, means no amnesty.
00:20:00:16 And so, this case belongs to the world of justice.
00:20:05:14 Law should judge, not politics.
Mahmoud (At home)
00:20:33:-- The trial against Sharon is nothing but a demand for justice.
When one kills another, he is given a fair trial…
…and he is either sentenced to death or sent to jail.
But when one kills about 3000 people…
…he needs more then one trial.
I don’t want anything but a fair trial…
…and the person who committed this crime…
…to be punished.
Like any other person would want to.
Voice Over (Elie Hobeika meeting Belgium Senators)
00:21:21:-- In January of 2002, Elie Hobeika, one of the main characters who was held responsible for the massacre was willing to testify.
Chibli Mallat (In his office)
00:21:32:-- On the 22d of January, the senators visiting from Belgium met in relative secrecy with Mister Hobeika and he confirmed to them that he wanted to clear his name and that he wanted to go to court in Belgium to testify. On the 23d, we had a session in court and one of the major points was the fact that we did not understand why the judge, judge Colignon, to whom we had said early on that Mister Hobeika is prepared to come to Belgium, who asked us to give him the address and the contact numbers of Mister Hobeika, did not act upon that and never gave us an explanation why he did not act upon that. So that was on the 23d of January in the morning, on 24th of January at 9 o’clock Mister Hobeika was dead.
Voice Over
00:22:32:-- In the early hours of January 24th, a car bomb exploded next to the house of Elie Hobeika. Hobeika, an ex-minister and a former leader of the Lebanese Forces, was killed together with three of his bodyguards and a bystander.
Vincent van Quikenborne
00:22:52:04 We met him yesterday evening.
00:22:54:19 After a lot of persuasion he had agreed to meet us.
00:22:59:05 He claimed to be innocent and had documents to prove so.
00:23:05:18 I’m not the right person to judge if that’s correct or not.
00:23:08:17 But the fact is, he was willing to testify in Belgium…
00:23:11:20 …which made him a crown witness in the case.
Umm Hussein (In her living room)
00:23:33:-- There is water everywhere.
You cannot sit here when it rains.
We just close the doors, because otherwise it will be flooded in here.
It’s all water.
If my men were here, then they could fix it.
But look at them, they’re all buried.
Sharon killed the 4 of them, may God kill him.
Sharon has to be put on trial now, not after 4 years.
We might be dead by then.
No, Sharon has to be put on trial urgently…
…even though he is prime minister.
What can we do more than this.
Our children are gone, and he’s still alive.
Voice Over (Images of the Congolese Foreign minister Yerodia)
00:24:48:-- (Title) International Court of Justice
The Netherlands
00:24:52:-- In February 2002, a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague undermined the Genocide Law. The court decided that Congolese Foreign Minister Abdolayeh Yerodia, who was also charged with genocide, cannot be put on trial for his notorious TV-speech, as he is diplomatically immune.
Minister Yerodia
00:25:12:-- Tutsi’s are microbes…
…and should be exterminated systematically.
00:25:15:06 (Title) Abdolayeh Yerodia
Congolese Foreign Minister
Voice Over (Images of the Belgian Court)
00:25:25:-- After the Court of The Hague pulled down the first pillar of the Genocide Law, re-establishing the principle of diplomatic immunity no matter what, the Belgian High Court destroyed the law’s second pillar.
Guy Delvoix
00:25:38:--It has been ruled that people can only be persecuted…
…if the persecuted can be found on Belgian soil.
00:25:39:-- (Title) Guy Delvoix
Spokesmen of the Belgian Court
Voice Over
00:25:50:-- With the two verdicts the Genocide Law was clinically dead. As in the case of Yerodia, the Belgian High Court decided in June 2002 in the case of Sharon, that he could not be prosecuted in Belgium.
Michael Verhaeghe
00:26:04:00 I think this is quite irresponsible on behalf of the justice department…
00:26:07:14 …to which I belong too.
00:26:09:22 I feel ashamed and disappointed that we are able to make laws…
00:26:16:10 …which can be interpreted in such a way that they mean nothing.
Umm Hussein with friend
00:26:24:-- I pray to God that they kill Sharon.
That’s the only thing I wish for.
I don’t want any money, I just want him dead.
I want to see him executed on TV.
Either by hanging or shooting.
I wish him to die like Hobeika.
We celebrated when Hobeika got killed.
Let’s hope Sharon is next.
I could drink his blood.
Voice Over (Images of the invasion of Lebanon)
00:27:39:-- On June 4, 1982, the Israeli army led by Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon. In his Autobiography Warrior Sharon wrote that the goal of the operation was “ to finish off Yasser Ararafat once and for all.”
.00:27:57:-- For two months Beirut was relentlessly bombed. Some 20,000 people including 600 Israelis were killed.
00:28:12:-- Mid-August a cease fire was signed. Arafat and some 14,000 fighters left the country, under the absolute American guarantee that the Israeli army would not enter Beirut and that civilians would not be harmed
00:28:32:-- On September 14 however, Lebanon’s newly elected Christian president Bashir Gemayel was killed. Christians were devastated and on September 15, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. Sharon announced that the operation was to protect Palestinians from Christian revenge but later that day he stated: “there are still 2,000 terrorists in Sabra and Shatila.”
Shortly after the Israeli army announced that the camp was “surrounded and sealed off” by Israeli soldiers. The same day, three groups of Phalangists, the most fanatic Christian militia, enter the camps led by Elie Hobeika.
Mahmoud (In front of his house)
00:29:24:-- There was a man running through the alley…
…that separated our house from Doukhy’s shop.
He said: The Phalangists are here, get out!
But no one left cause we didn’t understand…
….what they were doing here.
We were expecting Israelis.
Umm Hussein
00:29:45:-- I was doing the laundry and the kids were playing…
…when we heard the first gunshots.
We went out on the street and saw a girl who was shot.
A man took her to her parents’ house.
Then the shelling started.
When the bombs reached our house we ran for the shelters.
Umm Ali
00:30:06:-- The shelter was full.
People were crying and screaming.
People were afraid.
And I would press my children against my chest…
…and tell them it’s okay.
While by then my daughter and her husband were already slaughtered.
They were already killed at the stadium.
Mahmoud
00:30:41:-- When they entered, shooting and screaming…
…we hid in the bedroom.
The hall was green and our bedroom door as well…
…So when they entered the house…
…they passed the bedroom door…
…as they didn’t notice it.
We heard the shelling, shooting and people screaming…
…but we weren’t sure what was happening outside.
We could not believe they were killing them.
Voice Over (Images off light bombs)
00:31:23:-- Every night, the Israeli army, which was overlooking the Shabra and Shatila camps from numerous positions, fired light bombs into the sky to help Phalangists in their so called search for terrorists.
Mahmoud
00:31:39:-- Of course we were horrified the whole night.
The next morning my little cousin started crying.
And then they said over the loudspeaker: Give yourself up…
…and you will not be harmed.
After the family elders had discussed, we decided to give ourselves up.
We thought the Israeli’s wouldn’t kill us.
They would only arrest the ones named on their list.
So my mother went out with a white sheet.
Saying: We surrender, we surrender.
When they heard, they immediately entered the house.
They kicked in the door and went in.
Umm Hussein
00:32:20:-- They stood on both sides of the door…
…holding their guns like this.
They were the Phalangists.
They ordered everyone to come out.
I was the first one to leave.
Everybody got out and than they separated men, women and children.
Mahmoud
00:42:41:-- My father, my brothers, my sister’s husband…
…and my cousins stayed inside…
…while we were taken away.
My mother held me with one hand and my sister with the other.
They told her: This is a boy, leave him inside.
She said: No this is a girl. And she kept me with her.
I was skinny and had slightly long hair.
Then they took us to the stadium.
Mahmoud on the hill
00:33:48:-- When they brought us up from here…
…I tripped over the body of a dead man…
…while carrying my sister’s child.
My sister said: Get up brother.
Then the soldier realised I was a boy.
He put me against the wall…
…and aimed his gun at me.
Then my mother jumped in front of me…
…and begged him to leave me alone…
…as they already took the whole house.
He pushed her away…
… and felt something on her chest.
He asked her what it was.
It’s money, she answered.
Take it but leave my son alone.
So she took me, while he was counting the money.
Then they took us to the stadium.
Sana (walking through Sabra)
00:34:53:-- As we were walking through Shatila Street…
…we saw a lot of open doors and dead bodies.
We saw a lot of people who were killed in an unusual way.
We saw our neighbour Mohamed Doukhy tied up…
…with his head cut open by an axe.
His son was cut to pieces.
We saw all that and realised…
…that over the past days a massacre had taken place.
Voice Over
00:36:06:-- While Mahmoud was taken to the stadium,
on Saturday Sana was first taken to Bir Hassan, a small area on the edge of the camp,
where the Phalangists had dug a big hole.
Sana (At the stadium)
00:36:18:-- I carried one daughter and my husband the other.
A soldier ordered my husband to give me our daughter.
So I carried my youngest daughter and put the other on the floor…
…while still holding her hand.
The Phalangists put the men on one side and the women on the other.
They put all men in the hole and wanted to kill them.
But then the Israeli soldiers interfered.
They told them: Time’s up, retreat and hand us over the people.
Mahmoud (At the stadium)
00:37:11:-- We entered from here.
There were many Israeli tanks and soldiers…
…overlooking the camp.
The tanks were hidden by heaps of sand.
There were also many soldiers in front of the stadium.
There were many families, but I only saw women and children.
I didn’t see any men…
…except soldiers of the Israeli army and Phalangists.
Sana
00:37:57:-- They took all men inside of the stadium.
They let them in from many doors around the stadium…
…and we remained outside.
Every hour or so, 2 or 3 men would come out.
They interrogated them…
…stamped their ID’s and sent them out.
At 10 in the evening when the Israelis asked…
…what are you waiting for?
You took our men and children, we said…
…but no one came back yet.
They answered that everyone had left.
But all men who came out, were over 40 years old…
…while all young men, some 200 of them, haven’t shown up until today.
They never came back.
00:38:50:-- Palestinian women and Israeli officers in front of the stadium
Palestinian woman
00:38:54:15 Why all come out and he is…
Israeli officer
00:38:55:20 Everyone, everyone will be out…
Palestinian woman
00:38:58:04 Why is he in there for so long?
Israeli officer
00:38:59:20Because he is sitting there telling what he knows.
Palestinian woman
00:39:02:08 I know but why can’t he go?
Israeli officer
00:39:05:00 You think that you know.
Other Israeli officer
00:39:06:18 Maybe he is asked some questions…
00:39:09:07 The moment they finish they send him back.
Palestinian woman
00:39:11:00 But all the PLO left the country.
Other Palestinian woman
00:39:13:16 It’s not right; my son wasn’t with the PLO.
Mahmoud
00:39:19:-- We stayed until sunset when an Israeli lieutenant came…
…and asked in broken Arabic: Do you all know where Cola is?
Everybody go there, whoever returns will die.
Umm Hussein
00:39:54:-- On Sunday I entered the camp.
I walked over piles of dead bodies…
…until I reached the alley next to my house.
I kept going up. I was followed by a civil defense worker…
…a journalist and another man.
They also walked over dead bodies.
I arrived and saw my husband, his friends and my son, all shot dead.
The journalist asked who my husband and son were.
I said: this is my husband and that is my son.
They screamed at us from above and ordered us to leave.
But didn’t.
People gathered to collect their loved ones.
Mahmoud (Looking at foto’s)
00:40:49:-- This is my brother. He was shot in the back.
They shot him and mutilated his face.
I didn’t see them, my mother did.
She returned to the camp from Cola the next day.
She didn’t allow us to come with her.
So she returned and found my father killed in his bed.
My brothers were found in the alley.
This is my uncle and his daughter.
In here there are also pictures of my brothers.
This is my uncle and his daughter again.
This is my other brother.
He was 14.
This is also a brother.
They were both killed outside the house.
They were mutilated and burnt.
This is my brother. They cut his legs and burnt him.
He was 14 years old.
They killed the people and destroyed their houses.
So people wouldn’t find any evidence.
At the stadium they dug mass graves to hide their crimes.
Umm Ali (With her son at home)
00:42:46:-- We found mass grave that was booby trapped…
…the civil defence came and removed the bomb.
Then the bulldozer came.
The first body coming out was that of a woman.
It was caught between the teeth of the shovel.
I told them: stop!
Dig with your hands, I want my daughter intact.
They started digging with their hands but it was of no use…
…because there was too much garbage and rubble.
They started digging again and my son-in-law came out.
From here. In half.
I took the ID from his pocket and recognised him.
The second half came out from here to here.
There was no head.
We didn’t find his head.
They kept on digging. His mother came out, his sister, his brother.
I told them: stop. Here you start digging with your hands.
I don’t want my daughter to come out in the teeth of the shovel.
My daughter came out in the shovel.
I fainted. I don’t know what happened to me.
I didn’t feel anything. I don’t know what happened.
Umm Ali’s son continues
00:44:22:-- Here, she was shot in the face.
The back of her head was blown off.
But her hair still covered it.
We wrapped her in a white sheet.
We threw water on our mother’s face and she regained consciousness.
We told her this is Zeinab.
She looked at her for a while and then we took her to the graveyard.
Umm Hussein and friend
Voice Over
00:45:28:-- The Sabra and Shatila massacre lasted for 40 hours.
According to the Red Cross some 2000 people were killed, while hundreds of men held by the Israeli army at the stadium never returned.
Umm Hussein
00:45:58:-- I beg you, don’t cry ‘cause my heart can’t take it anymore.
I have bad eyes from crying.
I have a black spot.
It’s like a cockroach running around.
Voice Over
00:46:42:-- In 1983 the Israeli Kahane Commission determined that:
“The Sabra and Shatilla massacre was carried out by the Phalangists, acting on their own.” Ariel Sharon was held responsible for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge when he approved the entry of the Phalangists into the camps. No Israeli officers were prosecuted, only Sharon was forced to step down as minister of defense.
Sana (At home)
00:47:15:-- We didn’t remain silent after the massacre.
The victims formed a committee and we used to demonstrate…
…outside Arab and other embassies.
We visited politicians and the Red Cross.
We asked them to give us any information…
…about the disappeared, any news about their fate.
If they are alive let us know.
If they are dead let us know.
But until today we ask this question…
We don’t know whether they are dead or alive.
We don’t know their fate.
Lawyer Michael Verhaeghe
00:48:06:18 According to the Kahane Commission…
00:48:08:23 …it’s as if the Israeli army didn’t offer any help to people in need
00:48:12:09 As if the army was just standing there, watching…
00:48:16:08 …and interfered much too late.
00:48:19:00 That’s the official theory.
00:48:21:00 But the documents we have, refute this theory.
00:48:23:20 One of them concerns the meeting on September 19.
00:48:28:05 That’s the Sunday after the massacre.
00:48:31:12 Participants were Abu-Halil…
00:48:35:40 …a very prominent representative of the Phalangists…
00:48:38:16 …and 2 Israeli generals: General Drori and general Eitan.
00:48:43:03 Not just any generals…
00:48:44:06 …the Chief of Staff and Head of the Northern District.
00:48:47:03 The generals explain: there were journalists in the camps…
00:48:53:03 …and an official explanation should be given.
00:48:55:16 You could say a lot of things.
00:48:58:10 For example that there was an armed resistance.
00:49:03:07 So, you see these Israeli generals feeding Mr. Abu-Halil..
00:49:07:12 …how to explain the matter.
00:49:10:03 Not once during the meeting, they accused him of being a criminal.
00:49:15:20 They never threatened to arrest him and take him to court.
00:49:20:19 Nor did they ask about who is responsible.
00:49:23:03 No, nothing was asked.
00:49:24:07 The generals’ only interest was to come with an explanation…
00:49:27:03 …to the outside world.
00:49:28:21 And one thing should be absolutely clear…
00:49:30:21 …the Israeli army had nothing to do with it
Sana at her son’s house
00:49:39:20 Hurry up, Mahmoud.
Voice Over
00:50:05:-- In February 2003, the Belgian High Court decides that the case can be continued, not against Sharon but against Yaron, who was the second in command during the massacre.
Lawyer Chibli Mallat
00:50:22:-- Following the verdict by the International Court of Justice…
…the court was obliged to rule that…
…as long as Sharon is Prime Minister…
…it’s not possible to prosecute him. He has to finish his term first.
But what’s important to us, is that universal jurisdiction was accepted…
…and that we can continue the case at all levels.
Sharon is not the only one responsible for the massacre.
He may be the most important one, he’s not the only one.
So the trial can be continued in Belgium…
…and as soon as the verdict came out we continued our work…
…how to respond.
Voice Over
00:51:34:-- In July of 2003, following severe pressures from Israel and United States, which threatened to move the Brussels NATO headquarters to another member state and halt all major investments, Belgium decided to drastically change the Genocide Law. Ever since, only Belgians or people living in Belgium for at least 3 years, can file a complaint. In other words, combined with the absolute immunity granted to ministers and heads of state, the Genocide Law is dead an buried.
00:52:11:-- Seeing the lack of political will, few people expect the trial against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be continued. It’s been suggested, that the case will be transferred to Lebanon or Israel, the two countries directly linked to the massacre, even though neither of them has shown any intention to put the crime on trial.
00:52:36:-- Lawyer Michael Verhaeghe remains positive. “One day the truth must and will be revealed,” he said, “even if it takes another 10 or 20 years.”
One thing is certain, the people of Sabra and Shatila will have no difficulty waiting. It’s what they’ve always done.
Voice Over (Images of Bierut)
00:02:23:-- Dividing men, women and children … killing them, because of race, religion or nationality … how many times have we heard this story before and how many times are we going to hear it still?
00:02:40:-- The 1982 massacre of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut was officially defined a genocide by the United Nations. Yet, the victims had to wait 19 years for a chance to be heard.
00:03:07:-- In June 2001, 23 survivors of the massacre filed a complaint in Belgium against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and 19 others accusing them of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
00:03:26:11 (Title) SENS PRODUCTIONS
Presents
00:03:32:14 (Title) in association with
CORRINO FILMS
00:03:48:14 (Title) a film by
Hanro Smitsman
Peter Speetjens
00:04:10:16 (Title) 2000 Terrorists
Voice Over (Mahmoud walking through Shatila camp)
00:04:29:-- Mahmoud Younes is one of the plaintiffs in the case against Sharon. He was born in Shatila in 1971. In 1987, five years after the massacre, he left for Cuba where he became a dentist and met his wife. In 1993, Mahmoud returned to Shatila to take care of his mother … who died two years ago.
Mahmoud (At the place of his old house)
00:05:10:-- This is what is left of the house we used to live in.
Everything has changed. The current inhabitants are Bedouins…
…they are not the Palestinians that used to live here.
Most of them died or left the country.
The ones who remained now live in Shatila camp.
Voice Over (Images of Sabra and Shatila)
00:05:41:-- After the creation of Israel in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled to Lebanon. They mainly ended up in the country’s dozen or so refugee camps, Sabra and Shatila among them.
Over the past 50 years the camps has changed. What started with plastic and cardboard has turned into an overcrowded labyrinth of concrete blocks … And, during the Civil War many poor Lebanese moved in. Lebanon has always refused to grant the Palestinians citizenship. Officially they’re not even allowed to work.
Umm Hussein (On the roof of her house)
00:06:35:-- They don’t allow anyone to repair.
Every year I borrow some money to fix the roof…
…but if the police were to come, they would destroy it.
They don’t allow us to repair anything.
What can we do?
What if it starts raining?
We sit in the rain.
We have enough to worry about.
Voice over
00:07:04:-- Umm Hussein is a second plaintiff in the case against Sharon. She is originally from the north of Lebanon. In the nineteen sixties she married a Lebanese Muslim from the south and has been living on the edge of Shatila Camp for many years.
Umm Hussein (Looking at photographs with her friend)
00:07:25:-- These pictures refresh my memory of twenty years ago.
Is a photo better than reality?
This is my husband.
He used to be a jockey.
Here he is dancing the debkeh with his friends at a party.
This is my husband, his friends Mohammed and Ahmed.
He’s an Egyptian photographer.
This is me.
I am originally from a Christian family.
I met my husband downtown, after I went to the cinema.
And destiny played its role.
He gave me the most beautiful life.
Even if he were blind and crippled…
…I would still love him.
I don’t remember a day he cursed or treated me badly.
He was so good to me.
And then this awful massacre was committed.
Voice Over (Sana Sersawi walking through Sabra camp)
00:09:50:-- Sana Sersawi, a third plaintiff, was born in Shatila in a family of six. She has three children from her first marriage and four from her second. She now lives in neighbouring Sabra where she makes a living sewing clothes.
Sana’s children (In the living room)
00:10:08:--
20 years ago…
…in the camp Shatila…
20 years ago in Shatila camp…
20 years ago…
…there was a great massacre.
Sana (Sewing)
00:10:32:-- I used to work for Samet.
There I met my husband.
I sewed and made sweaters.
My husband worked on the big manual machines…
…until they got the electric ones.
He worked in the men’s section, I worked in the women’s.
There was a big table during lunch.
There is a power failure, does it matter for the film?
Sana in the living room.
Once I told my parents I had to work late…
…and we really had to work late.
But around 5 o’clock the extra order was cancelled…
…so we could go home early.
But I already told my parents I had to work late.
My husband found out I had told them…
…so he said: Let’s go out together.
I told him I wasn’t allowed to.
But he asked: Let’s go to the cinema.
So we went to see Azzab Imar’a by Mahmoud Yassin…
…at the cinema Montreal in Hamra.
When I got home I pretended to have had a very busy day…
…while we had spent the whole evening in the cinema.
We talked and held hands but we didn’t see anything of the movie
So we were sitting in the cinema, but we didn’t see the film.
They took him when he was 24 years old.
He is from 1958…
…so today he would be about 42.
My youngest daughter was 8 months old when it happened.
My son Ali. I was 3 months pregnant with him.
He was born without knowing his father.
(Somebody is knocking on the door)
Who’s there?
That’s my niece.
She also lost her father in the massacre.
He was Egyptian.
She was 4 years old when it happened.
Now she is married and has 2 children.
She also only knows her father from a photo.
Voice Over (In the kitchen)
00:13:27:-- Umm Ali is from the south of Lebanon. She married a Palestinian man who got killed in the early stages of the Lebanese Civil War. Umm Ali lives with her youngest daughter and her family.
Umm Ali (Showing a photograph of her daughter)
00:14:01:-- This is my daughter Zeinab.
My daughter has a strong personality.
She was very proud.
She liked going to the cinema to see Indian films.
She even used to dress like Indians.
Zeinab always told me: I like Indian films and I like to dress like that!
Once she was coming back from the cinema…
…and she was stopped at a Syrian checkpoint.
She was dressed Indian.
They asked her: Are you Indian or Lebanese?
She said: No, I’m Palestinian!
Sana (In her living room)
00:15:10:-- The other plaintiffs came to tell me they wanted to put Sharon on trial…
…for his role in the massacre.
I asked them about the trial.
They told me that Chibli Mallat is the lawyer…
…and that they needed my signature for the Belgian lawyer.
I approved and signed the papers.
But then I started laughing and they asked me why.
I told them: It has been 19 years now!
Now you want to go after those responsible for the massacre.
I told them: I don’t think this will change anything.
Now, after 19 years, Sharon is the Israeli Prime Minister…
…and he is diplomatically immune.
So I told them I hope we will succeed.
We are like drowning people…
…who will hold on to anything.
Chibli Mallat (In his office)
00:16:34:13 (Title) Chibli Mallat
Lawyer of the plaintiffs
00:16:32:-- But the reason why it took so long… to be able to bring a case is twofold. On the one hand this sort of a case requires a lot of work to prepare the file. And it took us about a year to prepare a serious file that could be useful and convincing for a judge. But more importantly there were no courts before which we could bring the case before. As you know international criminal law is a recent development in international law. And the Pinochet case is a very recent one… that was the first ever. And the Milosovic case, which coincided with the Sharon, was the second important one. And there are a few all over the world. But it took us lot of time to find out what the most useful jurisdiction.. what the most useful law was for the case of Sabra and Shatila… and it appeared that the Belgian law and the Belgian court were the most appropriate.
00:17:41:14 (Title) Hall of Justice, Belgium
Michael Verhaeghe (Image of the Hall of justice in Belgium)
00:17:56:13 (Title) Michael Verhaeghe
Lawyer of the plaintiffs.
00:17:51:01 We filled the complaint on June 18…
00:17:54:13 …after a lot of preparation.
00:17:57:03 In such a high profile case…
00:17:59:08 …you cannot just accuse someone without solid proof.
00:18:04:06 Ultimately, we believe there are strong indications…
00:18:08:00 …of guilt of Mr. Sharon, Mr. Yaron and 18 others…
00:18:12:09 …regarding active participation in crimes against humanity…
00:18:17:09 …war crimes and genocide.
Voice Over
00:18:20:-- The complaint was based on the unique Belgian Genocide Law from 1993, which allows any suspects of genocide and war crimes, committed anywhere in the world to be put in trial in Belgium.
00:18:36:-- From the start the law has been highly controversial, as it makes no exception for ministers and heads of state, and thus undermines the principle of diplomatic immunity.
Shimon Perez
00:18:49:-- We were for our life. And Sharon was one of the best fighters. So what is their claim? We could have avoid war, we could prevent it.
00:18:52:20 (Title) Shimon Perez
Former Israeli Minister
Interviewer
00:19:00:-- So law suit in Belgium would be very bad for the Belgian position?
Shimon Perez
00:19:03:-- I think so, very much so. I think it’s a terrible mistake, terrible mistake. I am not referring to the legal side, I am referring to the moral side.
Vincent van Quickenborne
00:19:16:14 (Title) Vincent van Quickenborne
Belgian Senator
00:19:14:22 In cases like this, you often hear that it’s not good for Belgian diplomacy.
00:19:23:02 But the question is: Can one negotiate about genocide?
00:19:32:01 Is this part of the diplomatic space?
00:19:34:12 Or are the perpetrators of these crimes beyond the law?
00:19:39:01 I think, raising the question is answering it.
00:19:42:16 There is no amnesty for these crimes.
00:19:46:09 You cannot be forgiven for your sins.
00:19:51:00 For these crimes no limitation applies.
00:19:54:19 In other words, mankind cannot forgive them.
00:19:57:05 Not to forgive, not to forget, means no amnesty.
00:20:00:16 And so, this case belongs to the world of justice.
00:20:05:14 Law should judge, not politics.
Mahmoud (At home)
00:20:33:-- The trial against Sharon is nothing but a demand for justice.
When one kills another, he is given a fair trial…
…and he is either sentenced to death or sent to jail.
But when one kills about 3000 people…
…he needs more then one trial.
I don’t want anything but a fair trial…
…and the person who committed this crime…
…to be punished.
Like any other person would want to.
Voice Over (Elie Hobeika meeting Belgium Senators)
00:21:21:-- In January of 2002, Elie Hobeika, one of the main characters who was held responsible for the massacre was willing to testify.
Chibli Mallat (In his office)
00:21:32:-- On the 22d of January, the senators visiting from Belgium met in relative secrecy with Mister Hobeika and he confirmed to them that he wanted to clear his name and that he wanted to go to court in Belgium to testify. On the 23d, we had a session in court and one of the major points was the fact that we did not understand why the judge, judge Colignon, to whom we had said early on that Mister Hobeika is prepared to come to Belgium, who asked us to give him the address and the contact numbers of Mister Hobeika, did not act upon that and never gave us an explanation why he did not act upon that. So that was on the 23d of January in the morning, on 24th of January at 9 o’clock Mister Hobeika was dead.
Voice Over
00:22:32:-- In the early hours of January 24th, a car bomb exploded next to the house of Elie Hobeika. Hobeika, an ex-minister and a former leader of the Lebanese Forces, was killed together with three of his bodyguards and a bystander.
Vincent van Quikenborne
00:22:52:04 We met him yesterday evening.
00:22:54:19 After a lot of persuasion he had agreed to meet us.
00:22:59:05 He claimed to be innocent and had documents to prove so.
00:23:05:18 I’m not the right person to judge if that’s correct or not.
00:23:08:17 But the fact is, he was willing to testify in Belgium…
00:23:11:20 …which made him a crown witness in the case.
Umm Hussein (In her living room)
00:23:33:-- There is water everywhere.
You cannot sit here when it rains.
We just close the doors, because otherwise it will be flooded in here.
It’s all water.
If my men were here, then they could fix it.
But look at them, they’re all buried.
Sharon killed the 4 of them, may God kill him.
Sharon has to be put on trial now, not after 4 years.
We might be dead by then.
No, Sharon has to be put on trial urgently…
…even though he is prime minister.
What can we do more than this.
Our children are gone, and he’s still alive.
Voice Over (Images of the Congolese Foreign minister Yerodia)
00:24:48:-- (Title) International Court of Justice
The Netherlands
00:24:52:-- In February 2002, a ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague undermined the Genocide Law. The court decided that Congolese Foreign Minister Abdolayeh Yerodia, who was also charged with genocide, cannot be put on trial for his notorious TV-speech, as he is diplomatically immune.
Minister Yerodia
00:25:12:-- Tutsi’s are microbes…
…and should be exterminated systematically.
00:25:15:06 (Title) Abdolayeh Yerodia
Congolese Foreign Minister
Voice Over (Images of the Belgian Court)
00:25:25:-- After the Court of The Hague pulled down the first pillar of the Genocide Law, re-establishing the principle of diplomatic immunity no matter what, the Belgian High Court destroyed the law’s second pillar.
Guy Delvoix
00:25:38:--It has been ruled that people can only be persecuted…
…if the persecuted can be found on Belgian soil.
00:25:39:-- (Title) Guy Delvoix
Spokesmen of the Belgian Court
Voice Over
00:25:50:-- With the two verdicts the Genocide Law was clinically dead. As in the case of Yerodia, the Belgian High Court decided in June 2002 in the case of Sharon, that he could not be prosecuted in Belgium.
Michael Verhaeghe
00:26:04:00 I think this is quite irresponsible on behalf of the justice department…
00:26:07:14 …to which I belong too.
00:26:09:22 I feel ashamed and disappointed that we are able to make laws…
00:26:16:10 …which can be interpreted in such a way that they mean nothing.
Umm Hussein with friend
00:26:24:-- I pray to God that they kill Sharon.
That’s the only thing I wish for.
I don’t want any money, I just want him dead.
I want to see him executed on TV.
Either by hanging or shooting.
I wish him to die like Hobeika.
We celebrated when Hobeika got killed.
Let’s hope Sharon is next.
I could drink his blood.
Voice Over (Images of the invasion of Lebanon)
00:27:39:-- On June 4, 1982, the Israeli army led by Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon. In his Autobiography Warrior Sharon wrote that the goal of the operation was “ to finish off Yasser Ararafat once and for all.”
.00:27:57:-- For two months Beirut was relentlessly bombed. Some 20,000 people including 600 Israelis were killed.
00:28:12:-- Mid-August a cease fire was signed. Arafat and some 14,000 fighters left the country, under the absolute American guarantee that the Israeli army would not enter Beirut and that civilians would not be harmed
00:28:32:-- On September 14 however, Lebanon’s newly elected Christian president Bashir Gemayel was killed. Christians were devastated and on September 15, the Israeli army invaded Beirut. Sharon announced that the operation was to protect Palestinians from Christian revenge but later that day he stated: “there are still 2,000 terrorists in Sabra and Shatila.”
Shortly after the Israeli army announced that the camp was “surrounded and sealed off” by Israeli soldiers. The same day, three groups of Phalangists, the most fanatic Christian militia, enter the camps led by Elie Hobeika.
Mahmoud (In front of his house)
00:29:24:-- There was a man running through the alley…
…that separated our house from Doukhy’s shop.
He said: The Phalangists are here, get out!
But no one left cause we didn’t understand…
….what they were doing here.
We were expecting Israelis.
Umm Hussein
00:29:45:-- I was doing the laundry and the kids were playing…
…when we heard the first gunshots.
We went out on the street and saw a girl who was shot.
A man took her to her parents’ house.
Then the shelling started.
When the bombs reached our house we ran for the shelters.
Umm Ali
00:30:06:-- The shelter was full.
People were crying and screaming.
People were afraid.
And I would press my children against my chest…
…and tell them it’s okay.
While by then my daughter and her husband were already slaughtered.
They were already killed at the stadium.
Mahmoud
00:30:41:-- When they entered, shooting and screaming…
…we hid in the bedroom.
The hall was green and our bedroom door as well…
…So when they entered the house…
…they passed the bedroom door…
…as they didn’t notice it.
We heard the shelling, shooting and people screaming…
…but we weren’t sure what was happening outside.
We could not believe they were killing them.
Voice Over (Images off light bombs)
00:31:23:-- Every night, the Israeli army, which was overlooking the Shabra and Shatila camps from numerous positions, fired light bombs into the sky to help Phalangists in their so called search for terrorists.
Mahmoud
00:31:39:-- Of course we were horrified the whole night.
The next morning my little cousin started crying.
And then they said over the loudspeaker: Give yourself up…
…and you will not be harmed.
After the family elders had discussed, we decided to give ourselves up.
We thought the Israeli’s wouldn’t kill us.
They would only arrest the ones named on their list.
So my mother went out with a white sheet.
Saying: We surrender, we surrender.
When they heard, they immediately entered the house.
They kicked in the door and went in.
Umm Hussein
00:32:20:-- They stood on both sides of the door…
…holding their guns like this.
They were the Phalangists.
They ordered everyone to come out.
I was the first one to leave.
Everybody got out and than they separated men, women and children.
Mahmoud
00:42:41:-- My father, my brothers, my sister’s husband…
…and my cousins stayed inside…
…while we were taken away.
My mother held me with one hand and my sister with the other.
They told her: This is a boy, leave him inside.
She said: No this is a girl. And she kept me with her.
I was skinny and had slightly long hair.
Then they took us to the stadium.
Mahmoud on the hill
00:33:48:-- When they brought us up from here…
…I tripped over the body of a dead man…
…while carrying my sister’s child.
My sister said: Get up brother.
Then the soldier realised I was a boy.
He put me against the wall…
…and aimed his gun at me.
Then my mother jumped in front of me…
…and begged him to leave me alone…
…as they already took the whole house.
He pushed her away…
… and felt something on her chest.
He asked her what it was.
It’s money, she answered.
Take it but leave my son alone.
So she took me, while he was counting the money.
Then they took us to the stadium.
Sana (walking through Sabra)
00:34:53:-- As we were walking through Shatila Street…
…we saw a lot of open doors and dead bodies.
We saw a lot of people who were killed in an unusual way.
We saw our neighbour Mohamed Doukhy tied up…
…with his head cut open by an axe.
His son was cut to pieces.
We saw all that and realised…
…that over the past days a massacre had taken place.
Voice Over
00:36:06:-- While Mahmoud was taken to the stadium,
on Saturday Sana was first taken to Bir Hassan, a small area on the edge of the camp,
where the Phalangists had dug a big hole.
Sana (At the stadium)
00:36:18:-- I carried one daughter and my husband the other.
A soldier ordered my husband to give me our daughter.
So I carried my youngest daughter and put the other on the floor…
…while still holding her hand.
The Phalangists put the men on one side and the women on the other.
They put all men in the hole and wanted to kill them.
But then the Israeli soldiers interfered.
They told them: Time’s up, retreat and hand us over the people.
Mahmoud (At the stadium)
00:37:11:-- We entered from here.
There were many Israeli tanks and soldiers…
…overlooking the camp.
The tanks were hidden by heaps of sand.
There were also many soldiers in front of the stadium.
There were many families, but I only saw women and children.
I didn’t see any men…
…except soldiers of the Israeli army and Phalangists.
Sana
00:37:57:-- They took all men inside of the stadium.
They let them in from many doors around the stadium…
…and we remained outside.
Every hour or so, 2 or 3 men would come out.
They interrogated them…
…stamped their ID’s and sent them out.
At 10 in the evening when the Israelis asked…
…what are you waiting for?
You took our men and children, we said…
…but no one came back yet.
They answered that everyone had left.
But all men who came out, were over 40 years old…
…while all young men, some 200 of them, haven’t shown up until today.
They never came back.
00:38:50:-- Palestinian women and Israeli officers in front of the stadium
Palestinian woman
00:38:54:15 Why all come out and he is…
Israeli officer
00:38:55:20 Everyone, everyone will be out…
Palestinian woman
00:38:58:04 Why is he in there for so long?
Israeli officer
00:38:59:20Because he is sitting there telling what he knows.
Palestinian woman
00:39:02:08 I know but why can’t he go?
Israeli officer
00:39:05:00 You think that you know.
Other Israeli officer
00:39:06:18 Maybe he is asked some questions…
00:39:09:07 The moment they finish they send him back.
Palestinian woman
00:39:11:00 But all the PLO left the country.
Other Palestinian woman
00:39:13:16 It’s not right; my son wasn’t with the PLO.
Mahmoud
00:39:19:-- We stayed until sunset when an Israeli lieutenant came…
…and asked in broken Arabic: Do you all know where Cola is?
Everybody go there, whoever returns will die.
Umm Hussein
00:39:54:-- On Sunday I entered the camp.
I walked over piles of dead bodies…
…until I reached the alley next to my house.
I kept going up. I was followed by a civil defense worker…
…a journalist and another man.
They also walked over dead bodies.
I arrived and saw my husband, his friends and my son, all shot dead.
The journalist asked who my husband and son were.
I said: this is my husband and that is my son.
They screamed at us from above and ordered us to leave.
But didn’t.
People gathered to collect their loved ones.
Mahmoud (Looking at foto’s)
00:40:49:-- This is my brother. He was shot in the back.
They shot him and mutilated his face.
I didn’t see them, my mother did.
She returned to the camp from Cola the next day.
She didn’t allow us to come with her.
So she returned and found my father killed in his bed.
My brothers were found in the alley.
This is my uncle and his daughter.
In here there are also pictures of my brothers.
This is my uncle and his daughter again.
This is my other brother.
He was 14.
This is also a brother.
They were both killed outside the house.
They were mutilated and burnt.
This is my brother. They cut his legs and burnt him.
He was 14 years old.
They killed the people and destroyed their houses.
So people wouldn’t find any evidence.
At the stadium they dug mass graves to hide their crimes.
Umm Ali (With her son at home)
00:42:46:-- We found mass grave that was booby trapped…
…the civil defence came and removed the bomb.
Then the bulldozer came.
The first body coming out was that of a woman.
It was caught between the teeth of the shovel.
I told them: stop!
Dig with your hands, I want my daughter intact.
They started digging with their hands but it was of no use…
…because there was too much garbage and rubble.
They started digging again and my son-in-law came out.
From here. In half.
I took the ID from his pocket and recognised him.
The second half came out from here to here.
There was no head.
We didn’t find his head.
They kept on digging. His mother came out, his sister, his brother.
I told them: stop. Here you start digging with your hands.
I don’t want my daughter to come out in the teeth of the shovel.
My daughter came out in the shovel.
I fainted. I don’t know what happened to me.
I didn’t feel anything. I don’t know what happened.
Umm Ali’s son continues
00:44:22:-- Here, she was shot in the face.
The back of her head was blown off.
But her hair still covered it.
We wrapped her in a white sheet.
We threw water on our mother’s face and she regained consciousness.
We told her this is Zeinab.
She looked at her for a while and then we took her to the graveyard.
Umm Hussein and friend
Voice Over
00:45:28:-- The Sabra and Shatila massacre lasted for 40 hours.
According to the Red Cross some 2000 people were killed, while hundreds of men held by the Israeli army at the stadium never returned.
Umm Hussein
00:45:58:-- I beg you, don’t cry ‘cause my heart can’t take it anymore.
I have bad eyes from crying.
I have a black spot.
It’s like a cockroach running around.
Voice Over
00:46:42:-- In 1983 the Israeli Kahane Commission determined that:
“The Sabra and Shatilla massacre was carried out by the Phalangists, acting on their own.” Ariel Sharon was held responsible for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge when he approved the entry of the Phalangists into the camps. No Israeli officers were prosecuted, only Sharon was forced to step down as minister of defense.
Sana (At home)
00:47:15:-- We didn’t remain silent after the massacre.
The victims formed a committee and we used to demonstrate…
…outside Arab and other embassies.
We visited politicians and the Red Cross.
We asked them to give us any information…
…about the disappeared, any news about their fate.
If they are alive let us know.
If they are dead let us know.
But until today we ask this question…
We don’t know whether they are dead or alive.
We don’t know their fate.
Lawyer Michael Verhaeghe
00:48:06:18 According to the Kahane Commission…
00:48:08:23 …it’s as if the Israeli army didn’t offer any help to people in need
00:48:12:09 As if the army was just standing there, watching…
00:48:16:08 …and interfered much too late.
00:48:19:00 That’s the official theory.
00:48:21:00 But the documents we have, refute this theory.
00:48:23:20 One of them concerns the meeting on September 19.
00:48:28:05 That’s the Sunday after the massacre.
00:48:31:12 Participants were Abu-Halil…
00:48:35:40 …a very prominent representative of the Phalangists…
00:48:38:16 …and 2 Israeli generals: General Drori and general Eitan.
00:48:43:03 Not just any generals…
00:48:44:06 …the Chief of Staff and Head of the Northern District.
00:48:47:03 The generals explain: there were journalists in the camps…
00:48:53:03 …and an official explanation should be given.
00:48:55:16 You could say a lot of things.
00:48:58:10 For example that there was an armed resistance.
00:49:03:07 So, you see these Israeli generals feeding Mr. Abu-Halil..
00:49:07:12 …how to explain the matter.
00:49:10:03 Not once during the meeting, they accused him of being a criminal.
00:49:15:20 They never threatened to arrest him and take him to court.
00:49:20:19 Nor did they ask about who is responsible.
00:49:23:03 No, nothing was asked.
00:49:24:07 The generals’ only interest was to come with an explanation…
00:49:27:03 …to the outside world.
00:49:28:21 And one thing should be absolutely clear…
00:49:30:21 …the Israeli army had nothing to do with it
Sana at her son’s house
00:49:39:20 Hurry up, Mahmoud.
Voice Over
00:50:05:-- In February 2003, the Belgian High Court decides that the case can be continued, not against Sharon but against Yaron, who was the second in command during the massacre.
Lawyer Chibli Mallat
00:50:22:-- Following the verdict by the International Court of Justice…
…the court was obliged to rule that…
…as long as Sharon is Prime Minister…
…it’s not possible to prosecute him. He has to finish his term first.
But what’s important to us, is that universal jurisdiction was accepted…
…and that we can continue the case at all levels.
Sharon is not the only one responsible for the massacre.
He may be the most important one, he’s not the only one.
So the trial can be continued in Belgium…
…and as soon as the verdict came out we continued our work…
…how to respond.
Voice Over
00:51:34:-- In July of 2003, following severe pressures from Israel and United States, which threatened to move the Brussels NATO headquarters to another member state and halt all major investments, Belgium decided to drastically change the Genocide Law. Ever since, only Belgians or people living in Belgium for at least 3 years, can file a complaint. In other words, combined with the absolute immunity granted to ministers and heads of state, the Genocide Law is dead an buried.
00:52:11:-- Seeing the lack of political will, few people expect the trial against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be continued. It’s been suggested, that the case will be transferred to Lebanon or Israel, the two countries directly linked to the massacre, even though neither of them has shown any intention to put the crime on trial.
00:52:36:-- Lawyer Michael Verhaeghe remains positive. “One day the truth must and will be revealed,” he said, “even if it takes another 10 or 20 years.”
One thing is certain, the people of Sabra and Shatila will have no difficulty waiting. It’s what they’ve always done.