A Grim Victory for Democracy

THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEE CAMPS of Shatila and Sabra he in the midst of West Beirut, surrounded by a stadium, two hospitals and a post office. During normal times, living conditions for the several thousand refugees are grim yet not unbearable. Sustained by their dream of a Palestinian homeland the men, women and children make do without "luxuries" like running water, electricity and modern sanitation. They can ignore the wooden shacks and mud floors. And they can forget their status as a wandering people whose houses are not really homes.

But these are not normal times. Today, a few hundred refugees are buried in the ruins of their dwellings, murdered by Lebanese Christians last September in retaliation for the assasination of Bashir Gemayel. No one will ever know precisely how many Palestinians--many of them women and children--were killed. But numbers don't really matter. The fact of the massacre speaks for itself, and eloquently enough to haunt not just survivors of the carnage but also an entire country that has assumed "indirect responsibility" for this tragic bit of history.

In Israel, the drama of Shatila and Sabra is only now beginning to play itself out Just as the Watergate break-in was but the initial event in a long search for the American conscience, the September slaughter in Beirut was but the catalyst for the turmoil the Jewish state is presently going through. For the past few months. Israelis had held their collective breath in anticipation of the official inquiry commission's report. The findings are in, the verdict a qualified guilty.

The report makes an essential distinction between those "directly responsible" for the killings and those "indirectly responsible." As the authors--two Supreme Court justices and a Major General--note, the Christian Phalangists carried out the killings; there were no Israeli soldiers in the camps. This fact, ignored by those who love to hate Israel, must always be remembered when discussing the massacre. Yet its relevance only goes so far; Israel has its share of the blame to shoulder.

The commission found that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF)--which entered West Beirut to "maintain the peace" after the assasination of Christian President-elect Bashir Gemayel--erred dramatically on two counts. The force ordered the Christian Phalangists into the camps without taking into account their history of violent excesses and desire for vengeance. And once the slaughter was underway, the Israeli soldiers did nothing to stop it, despite repeated signs and indeed reports that a carnage was taking place.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO ACCEPT as simply an error of judgement the decision to send Phalangist troops instead of the regular Lebanese army into the camps. That order was given by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and the report infers that Sharon did not, as he claims, attempt to persuade the standard troops to enter the camps. Instead, he turned directly to the Phalangists, who could be counted on to do the dirty work of removing any terrorists from Shatila and Sabra. Sharon, the report concludes, did not order the killings, but he should have anticipated them.

Equally terrifying is the behavior of some IDF officers once the Phalangists had gone into the camps. Just hours after the attack began. Brig Gen. Amos Yaron, the Israeli division commander in Beirut, was informed by one of his men that something was amiss. He did nothing. Two hours later, a Phalangist commander briefed a group of Israelis, including Yaron, that 300 people had been killed. Yaron simply warned the commander to cease such actions and left it at that. The massacre continued for two more days before the IDF put a stop to it.

If only Yaron and Sharon were guilty of "indirect responsibility," the massacre might in some ways be easier to stomach. Yet as the report makes clear, several senior officers and cabinet members had reason to at least suspect the atrocities. They were content to remain passive.

This passiveness--indeed indifference--lies at the heart of "indirect responsibility" and is tragically reminiscent of another age. When the Nazis first began to persecute Jews in Germany, the police and other authorities did nothing. Civilians watched the beginnings of terror, uncaring. All of these groups had the same attitude: why should we do anything or feel responsible, we are harming no one. Such a parallel in no way equates the inaction of the IDF with the inhuman genocide administered by the Nazis. But it does show that some Israeli officers were guilty of the same indifference that helped destroy an earlier society.

For all the criticism, perhaps even hatred for Israel which the commission findings will no doubt engender, they should also spark praise. The report represents a victory for democracy. There are few countries in the world, and certainly no Arab ones, that would have initiated such painstaking procedures. Indeed, the Lebanese Christians--those directly responsible--promptly forgot everything. So, despite all the tension, Israelis can take pride and solace in having a system that works.

The Israeli government must now carry out all the recommendations of the commission which has a clear moral, if not legal, authority. Friday, Prime Minister Menachem Begin's cabinet voted to do just that, and Sharon reportedly resigned from his defense post. The report does not make explicit whether Sharon and a few others must leave the government altogether or simply abandon the posts they now hold. The former course seems wisest. Should they remain in positions of power, these men will represent the failure of the system to cleanse itself, indeed to carry out the imperatives of democracy. Shatila and Sabra are forever a part of Israel's past. But tomorrow's history has yet to be made; it is never too late to find the right path. Antony J. Blinken