FRANKLIN LAMB to JANET LEE STEVENS on the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre from Martyrs’ Square in Beirut
Today Martyrs’ Square is not much of a memorial to the upwards of 1,700 mainly women and children who were murdered between 15-18 September. You would not be pleased. A couple of faded posters and a misspelled banner that reads “1982: Saba Massacer” hang near the centre 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 chickens 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 seven-storey Kuwaiti embassy building, 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.
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