The Massacre Inquiry

As Israel's board of inquiry into the Beirut massacre begins its work, much of what actually happened—after early attempts by civilian and military officials to cover up—has already been officially acknowledged by Defense Minister Sharon. We already know for a fact that Israel's real purpose in taking over West Beirut was to mop up any guerrillas left in the camps. We already know that Israel planned ahead of time to have the militias go into the camps to do the job, then arranged for their entry and helped them carry out their work by lighting flares. We also know, from Mr. Sharon's official statements, that the army leadership said it was so suspicious on Friday at what was happening that it ordered the immediate halt of the militias' activities—but then decided to let the militias stay in the camps until Saturday. The board, despite Mr. Sharon's admissions, will undoubtedly plow over all this ground anyway because that's how boards operate. But it seems to us that the only major questions left are these: Did the Israeli leadership know what the militias planned to do? If not, did it later decide to let them go on doing it? Only by getting the answers to these questions will Israel be able to decide if its leadership acted criminally, or with criminal negligence. Some choice!