Permission to Narrate

As a direct consequence of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon an international commission of six jurists headed by Sean MacBride undertook a mission to investigate reported Israeli violations of international law during the invasion. The commission's conclusions were published in Israel in Lebanonl by a British publisher: it is reasonably clear that no publisher could or ever will be found for the book in the US. Anyone inclined to doubt the Israeli claim that purity of arms dictated the military campaign will find support for that doubt in the report, even to the extent of finding Israel also guilty of attempted ethnocide and genocide of the Palestinian people (two members of the commission demurred at that particular conclusion, but accepted all the others). The findings are horrifying-and almost as much because they are forgotten or routinely denied in press reports as because they occurred. The commission says that Israel was indeed guilty of acts of aggression contrary to international law; it made use of forbidden weapons and methods; it deliberately, indiscriminately and recklessly bombed civilian targetsfor example, schools, hospitals and other non-military targets; it systematically bombed towns, cities, villages and refugee camps; it deported, dispersed and ill-treated civilian populations; it had no really valid reasons under international law for its invasion of Lebanon, for the manner in which it conducted hostilites, or for its actions as an occupying force; it was directly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacres.