About three months after the first Lebanon War broke out in 1982, Christian phalangists infiltrated the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila (in Beirut) and massacred its residents. The Israel Defense Forces were on the sidelines, and Israel's enemies have repeatedly claimed in the 30 years since the incident that Israel purposely did nothing to stop the massacre. That was a bald-faced lie, but no one in the world wanted to side with Israel, nor did many Israelis. Then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and then-IDF Chief of Staff Rafael Eitan may have been indifferent to the fate of the Palestinians at the time, but to their credit, it would be accurate to say that they never expected such a terrible massacre of innocent civilians. International pressure and internal demands prompted then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin to establish a government-appointed investigative commission, headed by Chief Justice Yitzhak Kahan. When the commission presented its findings, and they were brought to a government vote, some 30 years ago, Israeli society was already divided on the issue. In 1983, right-wing activists Yona Avrushmi lobbed a grenade into the crowd at a Peace Now rally (demanding the implementation of the Kahan Commission recommendations) across from the Prime Minister's Office, killing Peace Now activist Emil Grunzweig. Sharon was singled out as the culprit. He tried to drag Begin down with him, but the commission was able to distinguish between the two men's differing levels of responsibility. Sharon and Eitan came out of the affair bruised and browbeaten, and fought hard to prevent the government from adopting the Kahan Commission's conclusions. Begin viewed the commission's conclusions as an indisputable verdict and approved the recommendations, forcing Sharon to resign from the defense minister post. Sharon didn't even reclaim the Defense Portfolio, which was so dear to his heart, years later, when the tables turned again and he became prime minister. The protocol of that cabinet meeting 30 years ago, made public on Thursday, reveals how much of a milestone the Sabra and Shatila massacre was in shaping the conduct of the government in Israel. Sharon was not forced to resign because he God forbid initiated the massacre. He was forced to resign because he had failed to take the possibility of such a massacre into account. Israel took it upon itself to go above and beyond and take responsibility for whatever happens in any territory that it occupies, even if it had no knowledge of the incident while it was happening. The IDF doesn't have the luxury of claiming "we didn't know" or "we didn't notice." That is how an army should behave. Sharon never came to terms with his resignation. He used to say: Arabs kill Arabs, and we're responsible? In my opinion, in his heart he really believed this argument. It wasn't just something he said to defend his actions. After this event, taking responsibility for the lives of innocent civilians, caught in the crossfire between Palestinian terror and Israel's defenses, changed remarkably. Sharon vowed to clear his name and he tried to do so in various ways, but never really got closure. In all the years after the incident he was haunted by the conclusions of the Kahan Commission, which in addition to Kahan also included Supreme Court Justice (later Chief Justice) Aharon Barak and Maj. Gen. Yona Efrat. When Sharon assumed the prime minister's seat, no such incidents were recorded. He had begun to fear the rule of law, and this fear deterred him. He feared that the protocol of the meeting in which he was singled out 18 years prior would resurface as a new chapter in his life, and he behaved appropriately, exactly as he should.
