Sharon had no directive for camps decision

Press, 27 October 1982, Page 8

Sharon had no directive for camps decision

NZPA-Reuter ’ Jerusalem

The Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, has admitted that he had no specific Government approval when he authorised the entiy of Lebanese militiamen into Beirut refugee camps where hundreds of Palestinian refugees were massacred last month. But he told a three-man State commission investigating the massacre that the Army had no idea the militia would go on a rampage to avenge the killing of Lebanon’s Christian presi-dent-elect, Bashir Gemayel, days earlier. Mr Sharon, architect of the June 6 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, has been at the centre of controversy over Israel’s conduct in connection with the massacre, and he was the first person to give evidence in public. He was visibly ill at ease, and fiddled constantly with his spectacles. He asked the commission several times to hear his testimony in private, but was told to continue in public. His public examination

lasted almost three hours, yesterday, and he later gave further evidence in private. It was not clear whether he would be called again.

The high-powered commission, headed by Chief Justice Yitzhak Kahan, will now review the material it has gathered so far.

Mr Sharon came under harsh criticism even before the massacre for ordering bombing raids on Beirut without clear-cut Government approval. He said that on September 15 he gave his generals the go-ahead for the Lebanese militia to enter the Shatila

and Sabra camps where hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed. He said that he had acted on the basis of a Cabinet decision taken three months earlier and later reiterated.

The High Command, anxious to round up remaining Palestinian guerrillas, agreed to send Lebanese militia rather than Israelis into the camps “to save our own soldiers’ lives,” he added. Mr Sharon said that he had first heard of the slaughter from the Chief of Staff, Lieu-tenant-General Rafael Eitan, who called him about 24 hours after it started, and told him: “During the operation they, (the ‘Lebanese forces’) harmed the civilian population beyond what was expected.”

Mr Sharon said that he had tried to call the Prime Minister, Mr Menachem Begin, the next day, but Mr Begin had gone to a synagogue. Mr Begin’s Cabinet came close to collapse before he agreed to the inquiry, but it has since been under less pressure. The “Baltimore Sun” newspaper reported that Mr

Sharon had told the commission “Not in our worst dreams did we imagine the scenes of horror that we would discover" in the refugee camps.

Commission members asked Mr Sharon whether Israel should have foreseen the slaughter as a measure of vengeance for the assassination of Bashir Gemayel.

Mr Sharon said: “The Arab concept of revenge, as I know it, does not include women, children and elderly men.” •

“When did you first hear about the massacre?” Mr Sharon was asked.

“On September 17, around 9 p.m.,” he answered. Mr Sharon was asked “You heard those things first at 9 p.m., and then at 11.30 p.m., but the Falangists stayed in the camps until the morning. Why weren’t they ordered to leave sooner?” Mr,Sharon said that because the refugee camps were densely populated areas, the withdrawal could not have been effected earlier. It took some time to organise.