The Sabra and Shatila massacre stands as one of the most devastating chapters in our ongoing path to liberation.
Two days after the assassination of Bachir Gemayel, the Phalanges, under the watchful eyes of the IOF who besieged and protected the area, invaded the camp of refugees. For an unrelenting 48 hours, the bloodshed did not stop. The children and elderly were mercilessly murdered, women were raped, and pregnant mothers had their bellies poked. Eyewitnesses consider it the most heinous massacre in human history.
Thrown into mass graves in an attempt to bury the crime, the exact number of martyrs is unknown. Reports estimate between 3,000 and 5,000 Palestinian and Lebanese martyrs—most of them Palestinian refugees. To this day, hundreds are still missing, families still torn apart. Our people are not strangers to such horrors. From the Nakba to Deir Yassin and Tal Al-Zaatar, extending to the massacres in Jenin, Nablus, and Gaza—our history is steeped in the blood of the martyrs.
What makes Sabra and Shatila especially painful to remember?
The massacre in itself, regardless of context, is enough. This is compounded by the fact that it was executed by traitors to their own people while the enemy protected them and watched. The people of Sabra and Shatila did not resist the invasion, because they could not resist the invasion. While the Phalanges entered the camp under the pretext that they were trying to find armed resistance fighters, the pictures, films, and testimonies do not lie. And the most egregious aspect? The absence of justice.
Remembering alone may seem inadequate recompense to the thousands of lives lost. However, the goal of remembering isn’t merely remembrance; it is a means to an end.
Why should we remember?
As the descendants of those who have suffered immensely, we must carry within us the collective memory of that suffering, of the pain they have endured. We must actively find ways to connect with it, consistently seeking ways to internalize these stories so deeply that they influence every action, every decision. Our actions are naturally bound to the injustice they suffered, bound to resistance, and by extension, bound to liberation.
We cannot resist effectively if we do not know why we resist.
Over four decades on, we have a duty to actively remember. We owe it to ourselves to feel the pain, the anger, the frustration, to channel those emotions into meaningful action. Every endeavor we take should channel these raw emotions to serve the cause that we hold dear.
Our feelings must emanate from our collective memory.
Our thoughts must be committed to resistance.
Our actions must seek justice and vengeance.
Resistance News Network, https://t.me/PalestineResist/81907