Editing Sabra and Shatila massacre (section)

=== Post-war assessment ===
After the war, Israel presented its actions as a response to terrorism being carried out by the PLO from several fronts, including the border with Lebanon.{{sfn|Becker|1984|p=257}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Israeli |first=Raphael |title=PLO in Lebanon: Selected Documents |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |year=1983 |isbn=0-297-78259-2 |page=7 |quote=From July 1981 to June 1982, under cover of the ceasefire, the PLO pursued its acts of terror against Israel, resulting in 26 deaths and 264 injured.}}</ref> However, these historians have argued that the PLO was respecting the ceasefire agreement then in force with Israel and keeping the border between the Jewish state and Lebanon more stable than it had been for over a decade.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Benny |author1-link=Benny Morris |title=Righteous Victims : A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001 |date=2001 |publisher=[[Vintage Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-679-74475-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/509 509] |quote="The most immediate problem was the PLO's military infrastructure, which posed a standing threat to the security of northern Israeli settlements. The removal of this threat was to be the battle cry to rouse the Israeli cabinet and public, despite the fact that the PLO took great pains not to violate the agreement of July 1981. Indeed, subsequent Israeli propaganda notwithstanding, the border between July 1981 and June 1982 enjoyed a state of calm unprecedented since 1968. But Sharon and Begin had a broader objective: the destruction of the PLO and its ejection from Lebanon. Once the organization was crushed, they reasoned, Israel would have a far freer hand to determine the fate of the West Bank and Gaza Strip." |url=https://archive.org/details/righteousvictims00morr_0/page/509}}</ref> During that ceasefire, which lasted eight months, [[United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon|UNIFIL]]—the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon—reported that the PLO had launched not a single act of provocation against Israel.{{sfn|Hirst|2010|p=133}} The Israeli government tried out several justifications to ditch the ceasefire and attack the PLO, even eliciting accusations from the Israeli opposition that "demagogy" from the government threatened to pull Israel into war.{{sfn|Hirst|2010|p=133}} Before the attempted assassination of the ambassador, all such justifications had been shot down by its ally, the United States, as an insufficient reason to launch a war against the PLO.{{sfn|Hirst|2010|p=133}}

On 6 June 1982, Israel [[1982 Lebanon War|invaded Lebanon]] moving northwards to surround the capital, Beirut.{{sfn|Nuwayhed al-Hout|2004|p=1}} Following an extended [[Siege of Beirut|siege of the city]], the fighting was brought to an end with a U.S.-brokered agreement between the parties on 21 August 1982, which allowed for safe evacuation of the Palestinian fighters from the city under the supervision of Western nations and guaranteed the protection of refugees and the civilian residents of the refugee camps.{{sfn|Nuwayhed al-Hout|2004|p=1}}

On 15 June 1982, 10 days after the start of the invasion, the Israeli Cabinet passed a proposal put forward by the Prime Minister, [[Menachem Begin]], that the IDF should not enter West Beirut but this should be done by [[Lebanese Forces]]. Chief of Staff, [[Rafael Eitan]], had already issued orders that the Lebanese predominantly Christian, right-wing militias should not take part in the fighting and the proposal was to counter public complaints that the IDF were suffering casualties whilst their allies were standing by.{{sfn|Kahan|Barak|Efrat|1983|p=50}} The subsequent Israeli inquiry estimated the strength of militias in West Beirut, excluding Palestinians, to be around 7,000. They estimated the [[Lebanese Forces]] to be 5,000 when fully mobilized of whom 2,000 were full-time.{{sfn|Kahan|Barak|Efrat|1983|p=6}}

On 23 August 1982, [[Bachir Gemayel]], leader of the right-wing [[Lebanese Forces (militia)|Lebanese Forces]], was elected [[List of Presidents of Lebanon|President of Lebanon]] by the National Assembly. Israel had relied on Gemayel and his forces as a counterbalance to the [[PLO]], and as a result, ties between Israel and Maronite groups, from which hailed many of the supporters of the Lebanese Forces, had grown stronger.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Eisenberg |first1=Laura Zittrain |last2=Caplan |first2=Neil |date=1998 |title=Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=0-253-21159-X |page=45 |quote=By 1982, the Israeli-Maronite relationship was quite the open secret, with Maronite militiamen training in Israel and high-level Maronite and Israeli leaders making regular reciprocal visits to one another's homes and headquarters"}}{{void|Fabrickator|comment|though wikidata entry shows Eisenberg to be same person as Laura E. Berk, yet Berk does not appear to have had any academic pursuits involving the Middle East, so omitting a wikilink to Berk (though no article is present on any language wiki)}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_252.shtml |title=Sabra and Shatilla |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061030121144/http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_252.shtml |archive-date=30 October 2006 |website=[[Jewish Voice for Peace]] |access-date=17 July 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Asser |first=Martin |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2255902.stm |title=Sabra and Shatila 20 years on |work=[[BBC News]] |date=14 September 2002 |access-date=17 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207151250/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2255902.stm |archive-date=7 December 2023}}</ref>

By 1 September, the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]] fighters had been evacuated from Beirut under the supervision of Multinational Force.<ref name="Anziska" /><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/30/newsid_2536000/2536441.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |title=1982: PLO leader forced from Beirut |date=30 August 1982 |access-date=23 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240621071015/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/30/newsid_2536000/2536441.stm |archive-date=21 June 2024}}</ref> The evacuation was conditional on the continuation of the presence of the [[Multinational Force in Lebanon]] (MNF) to provide security for the community of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.<ref name="Anziska" /> Two days later the Israeli Premier [[Menachem Begin]] met Gemayel in [[Nahariya]] and strongly urged him to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Begin also wanted the continuing presence of the SLA in southern Lebanon ([[Saad Haddad|Haddad]] supported peaceful relations with Israel) in order to control attacks and violence, and action from Gemayel to move on the PLO fighters which Israel believed remained a hidden threat in Lebanon. However, the Phalangists, who were previously united as reliable Israeli allies, were now split because of developing alliances with Syria, which remained militarily hostile to Israel. As such, Gemayel rejected signing a peace treaty with Israel and did not authorize operations to root out the remaining PLO militants.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Ahron |last1=Bregman |author-link=Ahron Bregman |first2=Jihan |last2=Al-Tahri |title=The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs |pages=172–174 |location=London |publisher=[[BBC Books]] |date=1998 |isbn=0-14-026827-8}}</ref>

On 11 September 1982, the international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees left Beirut. Then on 14 September, Gemayel was assassinated in a massive explosion which demolished his headquarters. Eventually, the culprit, [[Habib Tanious Shartouni]], a Lebanese Christian, confessed to the crime. He turned out to be a member of the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] and an agent of Syrian intelligence. Palestinian and Lebanese [[Islam in Lebanon|Muslim]] leaders denied any connection to him.<ref>{{cite news |first=Walid |last=Harb |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/19990719/harb |title=Snake Eat Snake |work=[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]] |date=1 July 1999 |access-date=9 February 2006 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091002022729/http://www.thenation.com/doc/19990719/harb |archive-date=2 October 2009}}</ref>

On the evening of 14 September, following the news that [[Bachir Gemayel]] had been assassinated, Prime Minister Begin, Defense Minister Sharon and Chief of Staff Eitan agreed that the Israeli army should invade [[Beirut|West Beirut]]. The public reason given was to be that they were there to prevent chaos. In a separate conversation, at 20:30 that evening, Sharon and Eitan agreed that the IDF should not enter the Palestinian refugee camps but that the Phalange should be used.{{sfn|Kahan|Barak|Efrat|1983|p=36}} The only other member of the cabinet who was consulted was Foreign Minister [[Yitzhak Shamir]].{{sfn|Shahid|2002|p=38}} Shortly after 6.00&nbsp;am 15 September, the Israeli army entered West Beirut,{{sfn|Kahan|Barak|Efrat|1983|pp=11, 31}} This Israeli action breached its agreement with the United States not to occupy West Beirut<ref name="Accused">Panorama: "The Accused", broadcast by the [[BBC]], 17 June 2001; [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/panorama/transcripts/transcript_17_06_01.txt transcript] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623142638/http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/panorama/transcripts/transcript_17_06_01.txt |date=23 June 2024 }} accessed 9 February 2006.</ref> and was in violation of the ceasefire.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mark |last=Ensalaco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_EW6H-4tQ6cC&pg=PA138 |title=Middle Eastern Terrorism: From Black September to 11 September |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008001753/https://books.google.com/books?id=_EW6H-4tQ6cC&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=8 October 2024 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |date=2012 |page=137|isbn=978-0-8122-0187-1 }}</ref>

{{interlanguage link|Fawwaz Traboulsi|ar|فواز طرابلسي|de}} writes that while the massacre was presented as a reaction to the assassination of Bachir, it represented the posthumous achievement of his "radical solution" to Palestinians in Lebanon, who he thought of as "people too many" in the region. Later, the Israeli army's monthly journal ''Skira Hodechith'' wrote that the Lebanese Forces hoped to provoke "the general exodus of the Palestinian population" and aimed to create a new demographic balance in Lebanon favouring the Christians.{{sfn|Traboulsi|2007}}