September 18, 2007 - No. 142

Canada Border Services Agency
Postpones Admissibility Hearing for Anti-War Activist Alison Bodine

Drop All Charges Against Alison Bodine Now!

• Drop All Charges Against Alison Bodine Now! - Committee to Free Alison Bodine, News Update #5

Vancouver Public Forum, September 18
• Stop Political Killings in the Philippines - Stop the Killings in the Philippines Campaign

September 15, Washington, DC
• Americans Militantly Reject Iraq War and Occupation

Palestine
• 25th Anniversary of Sabra and Shatila Massacre

Canada Border Services Agency
Postpones Admissibility Hearing for Anti-War Activist Alison Bodine

Drop All Charges Against Alison Bodine Now!

- Committee to Free Alison Bodine, News Update #5, September 17, 2007

On Monday, September 17, 2007 at approximately 11:45 am Alison Bodine learned from a CBC reporter that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had cancelled her Admissibility hearing that was scheduled for 2pm that day. This was confirmed by calling the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) about the status of the hearing though Alison herself was never officially notified by CBSA.

Alison, a political organizer, social justice activist and U.S. citizen, was arrested by the Canadian Border Agency at the Peace Arch border crossing when voluntarily leaving Canada for the U.S. Thursday September 13th. She was released in less than 24 hours due to a huge outpouring of support and public pressure and widespread media coverage. However, she is still being charged by the CBSA and they are still in possession of her identification documents, passport, many different political materials, car and other possessions.

At 1:30 pm Monday September 17th, more than 50 supporters rallied outside the downtown Citizenship and Immigration Canada offices, especially because of the cancelled hearing, to demand that all charges against Alison Bodine be dropped immediately. Alison herself was present at the rally and spoke about the status of her case and the uncertain limbo in which she now stands. Being without status in Canada she can still be arrested at any time, she still does not know the charges against her nor when, or if, CBSA will re-schedule the Admissibility hearing. Many media outlets were present to cover the rally including the Metro Vancouver newspaper, 24hrs newspaper, CBC Television, CBC Radio, The Peak, Simon Fraser University's student newspaper and BC Institute for Technology student radio in addition to the article published in the major Vancouver newspaper, The Province just this morning.

As part of the conditions of her release, Alison must present herself at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) offices downtown at 10:00 am Tuesday September 18th. The Committee to Free Alison Bodine is calling for supporters to rally again at the 300 W Georgia St offices at 9:30 am as Alison presents herself to the CBSA and to continue the call that all charges against Alison must be dropped immediately.

The CBSA's cancellation of Alison's hearing is a manoeuvre to delay because they knew they won't be able to prove the charges they have made up so far. It also shows they have decided to escalate this case to a more political level by finding some different charges to bring because they know right now their case cannot win in a hearing.

All progressive, humanity-loving people must understand that this is not just an attack on Alison, this is an attack on all of us. This is an attack on the democratic rights of all progressive people, social justice activists, immigrants, refugees, all non-status people and non-residents in Canada. The unjust arrest and detention of Alison Bodine means the Government of Canada and its agencies would like to continue and escalate the silencing of free speech, freedom of political expression and terrorizing people who oppose their policies at home and abroad and the new era of war and occupation.

All of us in the progressive community need to realise that the ruling class, in attacking Alison, a U.S. citizen, is testing our ability to defend our rights, our capacity to defend ourselves and if we can organize and mobilize a legitimate and effective opposition. As the U.S. and Canadian occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan sink deeper and deeper into crisis, opposition at home is rising. The ruling classes of the U.S. and Canada are testing ways that they can silence this and get on with their dirty work of war and occupation, plunder and exploitation.

We cannot allow this to continue! The successful defence of Alison Bodine will be a precedent-setting case for all antiwar organizers and social justice activists in Canada. We must unite in action for the best defence for Alison, for the best defence for all of us!

The CBSA might think that by cancelling or delaying the admissibility hearing this campaign will lose steam and the pressure against them will lessen. On the contrary, this campaign is only just beginning.

People all across Canada and the world know about this case of political harassment and this will only gain momentum from here. This is a political case; Alison has done nothing wrong or illegal. Alison, along with supporters in Vancouver and across the country will keep up the demand that the CBSA must drop all charges against Alison and restore her full rights to travel between the U.S. and Canada.

**** WE APPEAL TO ALL PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO ENDORSE THIS IMPORTANT CAMPAIGN AND SEND A LETTER OF SUPPORT TO free_alison_bodine@yahoo.ca! ****

Our Fight is not over! Canadian Border Agency, drop all charges against Alison Bodine NOW!

WE WILL WIN!

To send support letters and for more information please contact: free_alison_bodine@yahoo.ca (Sample Support Letter is attached below)

CONTACT:

Andrew Barry 604-780-4029
Shannon Bundock 778-891-1470
Tamara Hansen 778-882-5223
Aaron Mercredi 604-339-7103

Sample Support Letter

__(Date)__ Canada Border Services Agency,

I am writing to express my outrage at the unjust arrest and detention of Alison Bodine. Alison has done nothing wrong, and is clearly being framed up and targeted. Alison is known throughout Vancouver BC and Canada for her antiwar organizing and social justice activities. Prior to the search of Alison's vehicle, which contained many political leaflets, posters, newspaper and pamphlets, Alison had never been denied entry into Canada.

I am calling on Canada Border Services Agency to DROP ANY AND ALL CHARGES AGAINST ALISON, and to restore her full rights to travel between the U.S. and Canada. We will not accept this harassment of activists. We demand our full, democratic rights to be respected.

Sincerely,

___(Your or Your Organization's Name)___

___(contact information)_______________

Vancouver Public Forum, September 18

Stop Political Killings in the Philippines

- Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights
Vancouver Steering Committee, Stop the Killings in the Philippines Campaign -
September 17, 2007

Local human rights advocates will join a victim of human rights violations in the Philippines, prominent academics, trade unionists, lawyers, church people and media to take action to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines.

The roundtable discussion will take place, Tuesday, September 18, 2007 from 2-5 p.m. at the People's Law School, 900 Howe St. at Nelson St. in Vancouver.

Sponsored by the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) and organized by the local Vancouver Steering Committee for the Stop the Killings in the Philippines Campaign, the forum aims to gather ideas about what can be done by Canadians and the Canadian government to pressure Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to put an end to the political killings and other human rights violations in the Philippines.

According to the Philippine human rights group Karapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People's Rights) since 2001, there have been over 885 victims of extra-judicial killings and close to 200 people have been forcibly disappeared. As well, more than one million people have been displaced because of intensifying militarization.

Speakers at the roundtable discussion will include: 1) Dr. Constancio Claver, spokesperson of Hustisya, (Victims of Arroyo Regime United for Justice) Northern Luzon, a medical doctor from Kalinga, Philippines whose wife was killed in a political assassination attempt on his life in July 2006 and who is now living and seeking refuge in Canada, 2) Gail Davidson, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada talking about how the Philippines is violating International Human Rights Laws, 3) Janet Routledge, BC Regional Coordinator of the Public Services Alliance of Canada on her recent trip to the Women's International Solidarity Affair in the Philippines, 4) Professor Geraldine Pratt, University of British Columbia, Department of Geography on her research about transnational solidarity between Canada and the Philippines, 5) Glenys Verhulst of the United Church of Canada on her recent exposure trips to the Philippines as a church intern and 6) Aiyanas Ormond of the Bus Riders Union, a member organization of the Vancouver Steering Committee for the Stop the Killings in the Philippines campaign.

The discussion will be moderated by lawyer Luningning Alcuitas-Imperial, Western Coordinator for the PCTFHR.

The forum is expected to gather over 30 people and is part of a national month of education, action and lobbying on the theme, "September of Solidarity: (SOS) A month of action for Canadians to express solidarity with the Filipino people's struggle for human rights."

"We are concerned about the Canadian government's inadequate response to the dire human rights situation in the Philippines," says Alcuitas-Imperial. "We want to look for ways to demand our government give a more concrete response," she adds.

In a recent written response to petitions filed in the House of Commons, then Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the "Government of Canada is deeply concerned by extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.... [yet] acknowledges the steps undertaken by the Government of the Philippines and Philippine civil society to stop extrajudicial killings...."

According to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), in 2004-2005 Canadian net official development assistance (ODA) to the Philippines totaled $25.65 million. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canadian exports to the Philippines are worth over $402 million and Canadian direct investment in the Philippines is $141 million.

Filipinos are the third largest non-European ethnic group in Canada and the second largest in Vancouver, numbering over half a million across Canada. The Philippines continues to export over 3000 Overseas Filipino Workers everyday.

They will be preparing for another nationally-coordinated day of action on September 21, 2007 to mark the 35th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law under former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Members of the media are cordially invited. Photo opportunities will be available.

For more information, to arrange an interview or to confirm your attendance, please call Sheila at: 604-215-1103 or e-mail: bcchrp@kalayaancentre.net.

September 15, Washington, DC

Americans Militantly Reject Iraq War and Occupation

On September 15, people from all over the U.S. converged on Washington, DC for a national rally and march. Participants militantly expressed their resistance to U.S. war and aggression on Iraq and the world and demanded that the direction of society be changed. Organizers estimated the number of participants at nearly 100,000. Veterans, military families, and youth were in the forefront, joined by political and social justice groups, religious organizations and peace activists of all ages. African-Americans, Latinos, Arabs and other national minorities were represented showing the broad character of the anti-war movement and desire of the people to build unity.

The September 15 actions began with a noon rally at the White House, where speakers addressed an enthusiastic and growing crowd eagerly gearing up to take to the streets. After the opening rally, protestors filled Pennsylvania Avenue as they marched to the Capitol building, with Iraq War Veterans leading the way. Lively contingents of youth were present, enthusiastically chanting and playing an important role in fighting for a bright future.

Protesters surged onto the Capitol's south lawn and up the steps where they were met by a police line. There, Iraq veterans conducted a solemn ceremony to memorialize the U.S. soldiers and Iraqis killed in the war. Over 5,000 people then laid down in a symbolic "die-in."

    

 

   

     

One hundred ninety-seven people, including dozens of veterans and activists, were arrested when they tried to deliver their anti-war message to Congress and were stopped by the police, who pepper-sprayed demonstrators without provocation. Among the arrested were Adam Kokesh, Liam Madden, Jeff Millard, and Garrett Reppenhagen of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism); Ann Wright, former U.S. Army Colonel; Michael Prysner, Iraq war veteran and A.N.S.W.E.R. activist in Florida; union president Gloria La Riva; and Eugene Puryear, Howard University student and National Coordinator of Youth & Student A.N.S.W.E.R.

Demonstrators took their stand against the war in Iraq and demanded that the government represent the will of the people, which is to eliminate all U.S. wars of aggression and bring all U.S. troops home now. People expressed their opposition to U.S. crimes in Palestine, stood firm against war on Iran, and rejected attacks on immigrants. The disgust and distrust with the current political set up was strongly expressed in slogans and signs that not only demanded the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes, but their imprisonment as well. Opposition to the refusal of Congress to take action to stop funding the war and rejection of the Democrats were also prevalent.

Voice of Revolution reports that determination to bring about change was in the air and that "the demonstration affirmed people's growing recognition that it is up to us, up to the peoples themselves to win this change. The demonstration again showed that it is the people here and worldwide that are taking the needed stands to defend humanity, and it is the U.S. government that is the terrorist and aggressor against the peoples. It is the U.S. government, the President and Congress together, that are repeatedly failing to take up any social responsibility to Americans or peoples of the world." The demands to change the direction of society and change the government were everywhere. "For many, the conclusion is Another U.S. is Necessary, Together This Can be Done. Time for an Anti-War Government!" Voice of Revolution reports.

(Sources: Voice of Revolution, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition)

Palestine

25th Anniversary of Sabra and Shatila Massacre

September 15, 2007 marked the 25th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre. It commemorates  the victims of crimes committed by Zionist-led Lebanese fascist paramilitaries, from September 15-17, 1982, when they slaughtered more than 2,000 Palestinian residents of two refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon. The overwhelming majority of those murdered were women, children and elderly men.

On this occasion, TML expresses its uncategorical support for the just demands of the Palestinian people for justice. TML is publishing below the statement issued by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in the U.S. and a letter by Frank Lamb, an American writer based in Lebanon.

The 25th Anniversary of Sabra and Shatila Massacre
A.NS.W.E.R. Coalition

In June 1982, the Israeli military (IDF), with full support of the Reagan regime, launched a massive invasion of Lebanon. The objectives of the invasion were to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), then based mainly in Lebanon, and install a puppet government in Beirut. The U.S. continually re-supplied the IDF throughout the war.

The invasion of Lebanon culminated in the Sept. 15-17 rampage through two disarmed Palestinian refugee camps by 1,500 fighters of the racist and fascist Lebanese Forces, one of the right-wing Lebanese organizations allied with Israel.

For the entire summer of that year, the IDF mercilessly bombed the Lebanese capital, killing more than 20,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians. In September 1982, a ceasefire agreement was forced upon the Lebanese and Palestinians resisting the assault. Palestinian refugees made up more than 10 percent of Lebanon's population of 3 million at the time.

Under the agreement, PLO military forces would be evacuated to Tunisia. In return, the safety and security of the Palestinian refugee camps would be guaranteed. Among the signers of this agreement were the governments of the United States and Israel.

The security guarantee was critical, because it was well known to all parties that the Lebanese Forces and other racist and fascist militias would butcher the residents of the camps if they were left unprotected.

By Sept. 15, with the PLO fighters gone, the IDF had completely surrounded the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in west Beirut. The remaining inhabitants of the camps were nearly all women, children or elderly men.

However, Ariel Sharon, then Israel's defense minister, along with the Israeli commanders on the ground declared that they believed there were still PLO fighters hiding in the camps.

Using this pretext, Sharon ordered that the Lebanese Forces (LF), commanded by Elie Hobeika, be allowed to enter the Palestinian camps to "clean out terrorist nests."

A weekend of unimaginable horror ensued. The LF first went door-to-door, forcing the terrified inhabitants out into the streets and dividing them into groups.

Shortly after they entered the camps, an LF commander radioed Hobeika, who was in the presence of Israeli officers. The LF commander asked Hobeika what he should do with the women and children, to which Hobeika responded angrily, shouting over his radio: "You know exactly what to do!" (BBC documentary, "The Accused," 2001)

The slaughter then began in earnest. For the next 36 hours, the LF raped, tortured and slaughtered, wiping out nearly the entire population of more than 2,000 Palestinians and Lebanese living in Sabra and Shatila.

Israeli officers and cabinet ministers, including Ariel Sharon -- who as defense minister bore overall responsibility for the occupation of Lebanon -- were repeatedly informed of what was going on. When the Israelis finally instructed Hobeika to pull the LF forces out on Sept. 17, the LF asked for and received, a one-day extension to "finish their work."

Once the hideous images of the Sabra and Shatila massacre were flashed around the world, the anger and revulsion were so great that even Israel had to set up an official commission of inquiry the following year. The Kahan Commission found Sharon "indirectly responsible" for the massacre. He was forced to resign as defense minister, although not from the Israeli cabinet. Two decades later, Sharon ascended to Israel's highest office, prime minister.

Sabra and Shatila was neither Sharon's first nor last massacre. The fact that this war criminal could commit such widely known acts and yet go on to become prime minister is the clearest sign of the Israeli state's profoundly racist character.

Twenty-five years after the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, Sharon's successors with massive support from Washington continue their occupation of Palestine and brutal repression of the Palestinian people.

The aim of the 1982 massacre was to break the spirit of the Palestinian people and crush their resistance by means of an extraordinarily horrific terrorist act. It failed to achieve that objective.

Today, the struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination, including the fundamental right of those living in exile to return to their homeland, continues. What is taking place now in Palestine just 600 miles from Iraq, cannot be separated from the larger struggle against U.S. occupation and domination in the region.

The Arab American and Muslim communities have been in the forefront of building the U.S. anti-war movement, protesting the criminal U.S. war in Iraq and demanding justice for the Palestinian people.

On September 15, 2007 the ANSWER Coalition and others in the anti-war movement will join with justice-minded people around the world in paying tribute to the victims of a terrible crime committed a quarter-century ago and stand as always in solidarity with the struggling people of Palestine.

Dearest Janet,

It's a very beautiful fall day here in Beirut today. Twenty-five years ago this week since the massacre at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra-Shatilla. Bright blue sky and a fall breeze. It actually rained last night. Enough to clean out some of the humidity and dust. Fortunately not enough to make the usual rain created swamp of sewage and filth on Rue Sabra or flood the grassless burial ground of the mass grave (the camp residents named it Martyrs Square, one of several so named memorials now in Lebanon) where you once told me that on Sunday September 19, 1982, you watched, sickened, as families and Red Crescent workers created a subterranean mountain of butchered and bullet-riddled victims from those 48 hours of slaughter. Some of the bodies had limbs and heads chopped off, some boys castrated, Christian crosses carved into some of the bodies.

As you later wrote to me in your perfect cursive:

"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 ally 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."

Today Martyr's Square is not much of a Memorial to the upwards of 1,700 mainly women and children, who were murdered between Sept. 15-18. You would not be pleased. A couple of faded posters and a misspelled banner that reads: "1982: Saba Massacer," hang near the center of the 20 by 40 yard area which for years following the mass burial was a garbage dump. Today, roaming around the grassless plot of ground is a large old yellow dog that ignores a couple of chicken hens and six pullets scratching and pecking around.

Since you went away, the main facts of the massacre remain the same as your research uncovered in the months that followed. At that time your findings were the most detailed and accurate as to what occurred and who was responsible.

The old 7-storey Kuwaiti Embassy from where Sharon, Eytan, Yaron, Elie Hobeika, Fradi Frem and others maintained radio contact and monitored the 48 hours of carnage with a clear view into the camps was torn down years ago. A new one has been built and they are still constructing a mosque on its grounds.

I am sorry to report that today in Lebanon, the families of the victims of the massacre daily sink deeper into the abyss. No where on earth do the Palestinians live in such filth and squalor. "Worse than Gaza!" a journalist recently in Palestine exclaims.

A 2005 Lebanese law that was to open up access to some of the 77 professions the Palestinians have been barred from in Lebanon had no effect. Their social, economic, political, and legal status continues to worsen.

"It's a hopeless situation here now," according to Jamile Ibrahim Shehade, the head of one of 12 social centers in the camp. "There are 15,000 people living in one square kilometer." Jamile runs a center which provides basic facilities such as a dental clinic and a nursery for children. It receives assistance from Norwegian People's Aid and the Lebanese NGO, PARD. "This whole area was nothing before the camps were here and there has been very little done in terms of building infrastructure," Shehade explained.

Continued misery in the camps has taken a heavy psychological toll on the residents of Sabra and Shatilla, aid workers here say. Tempers run high as a result of frustration from the daily grind in the decrepit housing complex. In all 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon tensions and tempers rise with increasing family, neighborhood, and sect conflicts. Salafist and other militant groups are forming in and around Lebanon's Palestinian camps but not so much here in the Hezbollah controlled areas where security is better.

In Sabra-Shatilla schools will run double shifts when they open at the end of this month and electricity and water are still a big problem. According to a 1999 survey by the local NGO Najdeh (Help), 29 percent of 550 women surveyed in seven of the 12 official refugee camps scattered across Lebanon, have admitted being victims of physical violence. Cocaine and hashish use are becoming a concern to the community.

There is some new information about the Sabra-Shatilla massacre that has come to light over the years. Few Israelis but many of the Christian Lebanese Forces, following the national amnesty, wanted to make their peace and have confessed to their role. I have spoken with a few of them.

Remember that fellow you once screamed at and called a butcher outside of Phalange HQ in East Beirut, Joseph Haddad? At the time he denied everything as he looked you straight in the eye and made the sign of the cross. Well, he did finally confess 22 years later, around the time of his youngest daughter's confirmation in his local parish. Your suspicions were indeed correct. His unit, the second to enter the camp, had been supplied with cocaine, hashish and alcohol to increase their courage. He and others gave their stories to Der Spiegel and various documentary film makers.

Many of the killers now freely admit that they conducted a three-day orgy of rape and slaughter that left hundreds, as many as 3,500 they claim, possibly more, of innocent civilians dead in what is considered the bloodiest single incident of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a crime for which Israel will be condemned for eternity.

Your friend, Um Ahmad, still lives in the same house where she lost her husband, four sons and a daughter when Joseph, a thick-set militiaman carrying an assault rifle bundled everyone into one room of their hovel and opened fire. She still explains like it was yesterday, how the condoned slaughter unfolded, recalling each of her four sons by name, Nizar, Shadi, Farid and Nidal. I asked Joseph if he wanted to sit with Um Ahmad and seek forgiveness and possible redemption since has now become a lay cleric in his Parish. He declined but sent his condolences with flowers.

Do you remember Janet, how we used to walk down Rue Sabra from Gaza Hospital to Akka Hospital during the 75-day Israeli siege in '82, as you used to say "to see my people"? Gaza Hospital is gone now. Occupied and stripped by the Syrian-backed Amal militia during the Camp Wars of '85-87. Its remaining rooms are now packed with refugees. One old lady who ended up there recited how it's her 4th home since being forced from Palestine in 1948. She survived the Phalangist attack on and destruction of Tel a Zaatar camp in 1976 fled from the Fatah al Islam Salafists in Nahr al Bared Camp in May of this year and wore out her welcome at the teeming and overwhelmed Bedawi camp near Tripoli last month.

Most of your friends who worked with the Palestine Red Crescent Society are gone from Lebanon. Our cherished friend, Hadla Ayubi has semi-retired in Amman, Um Walid, Director of Akkar Hosptial, finally did return to Palestine following Oslo, still with the PRCS. And its President, Dr. Fathi Arafat, your good friend, passed away in December of 2004 in Cairo less than a month after his brother Abu Ammar died in Paris. They both loved you for all you had done for their people.

That trash dump near the Sabra Mosque is now a mountain. Yesterday I did a double take as I walked by because I saw three young girls -- as sweet and pretty as ever I have seen -- maybe 7 to 9 years old in rags picking through the nasty garbage. Their arms were covered with white chemical paste. Apparently whoever sent them to scavenge sought to protect them from disease. As I climbed through the filth to give them my last 6,000 LL ($4) they managed a smile and giggle when I slipped on a broken thin plastic bag of juicy cactus fruit skins and plunged to my knees.

In some areas of the camps there are mainly Syrians. Selling cheap 'tax free' goods. Still some Arafat loyalists. Mainly among the older generation. Palpable stress among just about everyone it seems. One young Palestinian explained to me his worry that with the upcoming Parliamentary election to choose a new President scheduled for September 25, there may be fighting and his October 6 SAT exams may be cancelled and he won't be able to continue his studies.

When you and I last spoke Janet, it was on April 16 of that year and I was en route to the Athens Airport to catch a flight to Beirut to be with you, you told me you were working on evidence to convict Sharon and others of war crimes.

Twenty years later, lawyers representing two dozen victims and other relatives attempted to have Ariel Sharon tried for the massacre under Belgian legislation, which grants its courts "universal jurisdiction" for war crimes. There had been great expectations about the case among the Palestinians and their friends, since as you remember, Sharon had already been found to bear "personal responsibility" in the massacres by an Israeli commission of inquiry which concluded he shouldn't ever again hold public office. But hopes were dashed when the Belgium Court, under U.S. and Israeli pressure, decided the case was inadmissible.I regret to report that all those who perpetrated the Massacre at Sabra-Shatilla escaped justice. None of the hundreds of Phalange and Haddad militia who carried out the slaughter were ever punished. In fact they got a blanket amnesty from the Lebanese government.

As for the main organizers and facilitators, their massacre at Sabra-Shatilla turned out to be excellent career moves for virtually all of them.

Arial Sharon, found by the Israeli Kahan Commission Inquiry "to bear personal responsibility" for allowing the Sabra-Shatilla massacre resigned as Minister of Defense but retained his Cabinet position in Begin's Government and over the next 16 years held four more ministerial posts, including that of Foreign Minister, before becoming Prime Minister in February, 2001. Following the Jenin rampage U.S. President Bush anointed him "a man of peace."

Rafel Eytan, Israeli Chief of Staff, who shared Sharon's decision to send in the Phalange killers and helped direct the operation was elected to the Knesset as leader of the small ultra rightwing party, Tzomet. In 1984 he was named Agriculture Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in 1996. He currently serves as head of Tzomet and is jockeying for another Cabinet position in the next government.

Major-General Yehoshua Saguy, Army Chief of Intelligence: found by the Kahan Commission to have made "extremely serious omissions" in handling the Sabra-Shatilla affair later became a right-wing Member of the Knesset and is now mayor of the ultra-rightist community of Bat-Yam, a little town near Tel Aviv.

Major-General Amir Drori, Chief of Israel's Northern Command: found not to have done enough to stop the massacre, a "breach of duty," recently was named as head of the Israeli Antiquities Commission.

Brigadier-General Amos Yaron, the divisional commander whose troops sealed the camps to prevent victims from escaping and helped direct the operation along with Sharon and Eitan was found to have "committed a breach of duty." He was immediately promoted to Major-General and made head of Manpower in the army, served as Director-General of the Israeli Defense Ministry and Military Attachés at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. He is currently working for various Israeli lobby groups as a scholar in 'think thanks.'

Elie Hobeika, the Chief of Lebanese Forces Intelligence, who along with Sharon master-minded the actual massacre fell out with the Phalange in 1980s under suspicion that he was involved in killing their leader, Bachir Gemayal.

He defected to the Syrians, acquired three Ministerial posts in post-civil war Lebanon Governments, including Minister of the Displaced (many thought he knew a lot about this subject) of Electricity and Water and in 1996, Social Affairs.

On January 24, 2002, twenty years after his involvement at Sabra-Shatilla he was blown up in a car bomb attack in East Beirut. Two of his associates who were also rumored to be planning to 'come clean' regarding Sharon's role were assassinated in separate incidents. A few days before Hobeika's death he stated that he might reveal more about the massacre and those responsible and according to Beirut's Daily Star staff who interviewed him, Hobeika told them that his lawyers had copies of his files implicating Sharon in much more than had become public. These files are now in the possession of his son who, following Sharon's death, may release the files.

They still remember you in Burj al Buragne camp. A few weeks ago one old man told me: "Janet Stevens? No, I didn't know her." He paused and then said, "Oh!..you mean Miss Janet! She spoke Arabic... I think she was American. Of course I remember her! We called her the little drummer girl. She had so much energy. She cared about the Palestinians. That was so long ago. She stopped coming to visit us. I don't know why. How is she?"

And so, Dearest Janet, I will be waiting for you at Sabra-Shatilla, at Martyrs Square, on Saturday, September 15, 2007.

You will find me patting and mumbling to that old yellow dog. He and I have become friends and we will pay our respects to the dead and I will reflect on these past 25 years and we will watch for and wait for you. You will find us behind the straggly rose bushes on the right as you enter.

Come to us, Janet. We need you. The camp residents need you, one of their brightest lights, on this 25th anniversary of one of their darkest hours. You were always their mediator and advocate...and until today you are their majorette for Justice and Return to their sacred Palestine.

Forever,

Franklin

Janet Lee Stevens was born in 1951 and died on April 18, 1983, at the age of 32, at the instant of the explosion which destroyed the American Embassy in Beirut. Twenty minutes before the blast, Janet had arrived at the Embassy to meet with U.S. A.I.D. official Bill McIntyre because she wanted to advocate for more aid to the Shia of South Lebanon and for the Palestinians at Sabra, Shatilla, and Burg al Burajneh camps, stemming from Israel's 1982 invasion and the September 15-18 massacre. As they sat at a table in the cafeteria, where she had planned to ask why the U.S. government has never even lodged a protest following the Israeli invasion or the Massacre, a van stolen from the Embassy the previous June arrived and parked just in front of the Embassy. Almost directly in front of the cafeteria. It contained 2,000 pounds of explosives. It was detonated by remote control and tons of concrete pancaked on top of Janet and Bill, killing 63 and wounding 120. Remains of Janet's body were found two days later, unidentified in the basement morgue of the American University of Beirut Hospital by the author. She was pregnant with our son, Clyde Chester Lamb III. Had he lived he would be 24-years old. Hopefully taking after his mother he would, no doubt, be a prince of a young man.

* Franklin Lamb's book on the Sabra-Shatilla Massacre, now out of print, was published in 1983, following Janet's death and was dedicated to Janet Lee Stevens. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com. (Lamb, Franklin P.: International legal responsibility for the Sabra-Shatilla-massacre / Franklin P. Lamb - Montreuil: Imp. Tipe, 1983 - 157 S. Ill., Kt.)

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