Editing Sabra and Shatila massacre (section)

== Foreign reporters' testimonies ==

On 17 September, while Sabra and Shatila still were sealed off, a few independent observers managed to enter. Among them were a Norwegian journalist and diplomat [[Gunnar Flakstad]], who observed Phalangists during their cleanup operations, removing dead bodies from destroyed houses in the Shatila camp.<ref>''Aftenposten'' Middle East correspondent Harbo was also quoted with the same information on ABC News "Close up, Beirut Massacres", broadcast 7 January 1983.</ref>

Many of the bodies found had been severely mutilated. Young men had been [[castration|castrated]], some were [[scalping|scalped]], and some had the [[Christian cross]] carved into their bodies.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1310100/Syrians-aid-Butcher-of-Beirut-to-hide-from-justice.html |title=Syrians aid 'Butcher of Beirut' to hide from justice |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=17 June 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240414235123/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1310100/Syrians-aid-Butcher-of-Beirut-to-hide-from-justice.html |archive-date=14 April 2024}}</ref>

[[Janet Lee Stevens]], an American journalist, later wrote to her husband, Dr. Franklin Lamb, "I saw dead women in their houses with their skirts up to their waists and their legs spread apart; dozens of young men shot after being lined up against an alley wall; children with their throats slit, a pregnant woman with her stomach chopped open, her eyes still wide open, her blackened face silently screaming in horror; countless babies and toddlers who had been stabbed or ripped apart and who had been thrown into garbage piles."<ref>{{cite web |first=Franklin |last=Lamb |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/997/special.htm#1 |title=Remembering Janet Lee Stevens, martyr for the Palestinian refugees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403135700/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/997/special.htm#1 |archive-date=3 April 2011}}</ref>

Before the massacre, it was reported that the leader of the PLO, Yasir Arafat, had requested the return of international forces, from Italy, France and the United States, to Beirut to protect civilians. Those forces had just supervised the departure of Arafat and his PLO fighters from Beirut. Italy expressed 'deep concerns' about 'the new Israeli advance', but no action was taken to return the forces to Beirut.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/17/world/arafat-demands-3-nations-return-peace-force-to-beirut.html?scp=1&sq=henry+kamm+september+17+1982&st=nyt |title=Arafat Demands 3 Nations Return Peace Force to Beirut |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 September 1982 |access-date=16 August 2015 |last1=Kamm |first1=Henry |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012184656/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/17/world/arafat-demands-3-nations-return-peace-force-to-beirut.html?scp=1&sq=henry+kamm+september+17+1982&st=nyt |archive-date=12 October 2023}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' reported in September 1982:

<blockquote>Yasir Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, demanded today that the United States, France and Italy send their troops back to Beirut to protect its inhabitants against Israel...''The dignity of three armies and the honor of their countries is involved'', Mr. Arafat said at his news conference. ''I ask Italy, France and the United States: What of your promise to protect the inhabitants of Beirut?''</blockquote>

In interviews with film director [[Lokman Slim]] in 2005, some of the [[Christianity in Lebanon|Lebanese Christian]] militia fighters reported that, prior to the massacre, the IDF took them to training camps in Israel and showed them documentaries about the Holocaust.<ref name="training with history" /> The Israelis told the Lebanese fighters that the same would happen to them too, as a minority in Lebanon, if the fighters did not take action against the Palestinians.<ref name="training with history">{{cite news |last1=Rmeileh |first1=Rami |title=Sabra & Shatila echoes past & ongoing Palestinian suffering |url=https://www.newarab.com/opinion/sabra-shatila-echoes-past-ongoing-palestinian-suffering |access-date=6 June 2024 |work=[[The New Arab]] |date=18 September 2023 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606060114/https://www.newarab.com/opinion/sabra-shatila-echoes-past-ongoing-palestinian-suffering |archive-date=6 June 2024}}</ref> The film was called ''"Massaker"'', it featured six perpetrators of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, and it was awarded the ''Fipresci Prize'' at the 2005 Berlinale.<ref name="Massaker">{{cite news |last1=Agencies |first1=The New Arab Staff & |title=Lokman Slim: The daring Lebanese activist, admired intellectual |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/lokman-slim-daring-lebanese-activist-admired-intellectual |access-date=6 June 2024 |work= [[The New Arab]] |date=6 February 2021 |language=en |quote= Their film "Massaker" — which studied six perpetrators of the 1982 Christian militia massacres of 1,000 people at the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian camps in Beirut — was awarded the Fipresci Prize at the 2005 Berlinale. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240606062916/https://www.newarab.com/news/lokman-slim-daring-lebanese-activist-admired-intellectual |archive-date=6 June 2024}}</ref>