Fateful Triangle

Aftermath684He added the report from a Phalange officer indicating that these peopleshould be killed. Note that the elusive 2000 terrorists had pulled theirdisappearing act once again, refuting what had been “determined” bythe Commission, as just quoted, namely, that the “armed terrorist force”had not been evacuated. On Friday, additional evidence of atrocities wasaccumulated, as revealed in a report that the Phalangists had“butchered” civilians (early Friday morning) and direct observation ofPhalangist murders. The murderers were then sent back in to completetheir work—in fact, they were ordered to leave the following morningonly “due to American pressure,” according to the Chief of Staff.In short, it is quite impossible to believe that there was no “concurrenceor assent” in the events that followed the entry of the Phalangistsinto the camps on the part of the “military echelon,” and the DefenseMinister, from the “political” echelon, had been apprised of the facts.The picture that emerges from the Kahan Commission Report istherefore quite clear. The higher political and military echelons, in theirentirety, expected that Phalangists would carry out massacres if theywere admitted into Palestinian camps. Furthermore, they knew thatthese camps were undefended, so they were willing to send inapproximately 150 Phalangists known for their unwillingness to engagein any conflict with armed men. Within 1-2 hours after the Phalangistshad entered on Thursday at 6PM, clear evidence reached the commandpost 200 meters away from the camps and overlooking them thatmassacres were taking place, and that there was no serious resistance.At the command post, the IDF and Phalange commanders and theirstaffs, including intelligence and liaison, were present and in constantcontact. The IDF then provided illumination, and the next day, afterreceiving further corroboratory evidence that massacres were in processand that there was no resistance, sent the Phalange back into theClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky