Editing Sabra and Shatila massacre (section)

==Role of various parties==
The primary responsibility for the massacre is generally attributed to Elie Hobeika. [[Robert Hatem|Robert Maroun Hatem]], Elie Hobeika's bodyguard, stated in his book ''From Israel to Damascus'' that Hobeika ordered the massacre of civilians in defiance of Israeli instructions to behave like a "dignified" army.<ref name="online" />

Hobeika was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut on 24 January 2002. Lebanese and Arab commentators blamed Israel for the murder of Hobeika, with alleged Israeli motive that Hobeika would be "apparently poised to testify before the Belgian court about Sharon's role in the massacre"<ref name="Campagna">{{cite journal |last=Campagna |first=Joel |author-link= Joel Campagna |date=April 2002 |url=http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/460.cfm |title=The Usual Suspects |journal=[[World Press Review]] |volume=49 |number=4 |access-date=24 February 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240702055638/https://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/460.cfm |archive-date=2 July 2024}}</ref> (see section above). Prior to his assassination, Elie Hobeika had stated "I am very interested that the [Belgian] trial starts because my innocence is a core issue."<ref name="guardian_obit" />

According to [[Alain Menargues]], on 15 September, an Israeli special operations group of [[Sayeret Matkal]] entered the camp to liquidate a number of Palestinian cadres, and left the same day. It was followed the next day, by "killers" from the Sa'ad Haddad's [[South Lebanon Army]], before the Lebanese Forces units of Elie Hobeika entered the camps.{{sfn|Menargues|2004|pp=469–470}}{{sfn|Traboulsi|2007|p=218|ps=: "On Wednesday 15th, units of the elite Israeli army 'reconnaissance' force, the Sayeret Mat`kal, which had already carried out the assassination of the three PLO leaders in Beirut, entered the camps with a mission to liquidate a selected number of Palestinian cadres. The next day, two units of killers were introduced into the camps, troops from Sa'd Haddad's Army of South Lebanon, attached to the Israeli forces in Beirut, and the LF security units of Elie Hobeika known as the Apaches, led by Marun Mash'alani, Michel Zuwayn and Georges Melko"}}<ref name="AvonKhatchadourian2012">{{cite book |first1=Dominique |last1=Avon |first2=Anaïs-Trissa |last2=Khatchadourian |first3=Jane Marie |last3=Todd |title=Hezbollah: A History of the "Party of God" |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOZ3Aqf6BzoC |date=2012 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-07031-8 |page=22 |quote=That triggered the massacre of Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila camps in three waves, according to Alain Menargues, first at the hands of special Israeli units, whose troops reoccupied West Beirut; then by the groups in the SLA; and finally by men from the Jihaz al-Amn, a Lebanese forces special group led by Elie Hobeika.}}</ref>

The US responsibility was considerable;{{sfn|Traboulsi|2007|p=219}} indeed the Arab states and the PLO blamed the US.<ref name="Chomsky1999">{{cite book |first=Noam |last=Chomsky |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=The Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHphMCIkhK0C&pg=PA377 |year=1999 |publisher=[[Pluto Press]] |isbn=978-0-7453-1530-0 |page=377}}</ref> The negotiations under the mediation of US diplomat [[Philip Habib]], which oversaw the withdrawal of the PLO from Beirut, had assigned responsibility to the American-led Multinational Force for guaranteeing the safety of those non-combatant Palestinians who remained. The US administration was criticized for the early withdrawal of the Multinational Force, a criticism which [[George Shultz]] accepted later.{{sfn|Traboulsi|2007|p=219}} Shultz recounted in his memoirs that "The brutal fact is that we are partially responsible. We took the Israelis and Lebanese at their word".<ref name="Shultz2010">{{cite book |first=George P. |last=Shultz |author-link=George Shultz |title=Turmoil and Triumph: Diplomacy, Power, and the Victory of the American Deal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ocPU-S9gloC&pg=PT31 |date=2010 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-4516-2311-6}}</ref> On 20 September the Multinational Force was redeployed to Beirut.{{sfn|Traboulsi|2007|p=219}}