Tal al-Zaatar massacre 1976: When Zionists massacred 3,000 Palestinians in Beirut

By Maryam Qarehgozlou

In an old black and white video, Younes Al-Iraqi, a young Palestinian boy, recounts in Arabic how his mother, sister, and other relatives were mercilessly killed when a bomb hit their house in Beirut’s Tal al-Zaatar camp in August 1976, which killed between 3,000 and 4,000 people.

“My mother, sister, and cousin were baking bread when a shell hit the oven. My mother, sister, cousin, aunt, and cousin’s daughter were killed. We couldn’t bury them because of the ongoing shelling. We waited until evening, and when the shelling stopped, we buried them in the garden,” he said.

“Tall El Zaatar”, a 1977 documentary, features first-hand testimonies by Tal al-Zaatar residents who survived the tragic Zionist-backed massacre committed against Palestinians and Lebanese in the Palestinian refugee camp,  northeast of the Lebanese capital Beirut.

When was Tal al-Zaatar established?

In the aftermath of Israel’s 1967 occupation of territories including the West Bank, Jerusalem, Golan Heights, and Sinai, a massive refugee crisis took place as millions of Palestinians, evicted from their lands by the occupying Zionist regime, sought refuge in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.

Lebanon and Jordan hosted the majority of these displaced Palestinians. They responded by setting up large camps including Tal al-Zaatar in an area known as Dekwaneh.

The residents of the UNRWA-administered Tal al-Zaatar (literally meaning the ‘Hill of Thyme’) originated from villages in northern Palestine, particularly from “Al-Khalisa,” “Al-Lazzaza,” and “Salha.”

The area housed, alongside Palestinian refugees, a Lebanese working class, the majority of whom had come to work under harsh conditions from the southern regions of Lebanon.

The camp was home to between 50,000 and 60,000 Palestinian refugees.

What led to the massacre?

As Palestinian refugees settled in Lebanon and Jordan, some Palestinian resistance groups also relocated, playing a significant role in confronting Zionism and gaining influence.

Palestinians saw Lebanon as a base for their struggle against the Israeli occupation and supported the Muslim and leftist forces of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM).

However, tensions escalated as Lebanese Muslims increasingly supported the Palestinian resistance, leading to the Lebanese Civil War, which erupted in 1975 between Muslim and Christian factions.

A fateful assassination attempt on April 13, 1975, which targeted Pierre Gemayel, leader of Lebanon’s Christian Kataeb Party, also added fuel to the fire due to accusations and counter-accusations.

The same day, in a nearby location, the Kataeb Party perpetrated a violent assault on a bus en route to the Tal al-Zaatar camp, indiscriminately gunning down passengers and resulting in the death of 27 individuals.

This horrific incident catalyzed a protracted, 15-year period of conflict in Lebanon, following the declaration of war by right-wing factions against the Palestinian presence and their allied Lebanese counterparts.

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Tal al-Zaatar siege and massacre

The massacre of Tal al-Zaatar was one of the most horrific episodes of the Lebanese Civil War.

The assault against Tal al-Zaatar began in January 1976, when the Right-wing Christian militias, led by the Lebanese Front (LF), launched a campaign to expel the Palestinians from northern Beirut.

The LF viewed the Palestinians as a threat to their political and economic interests, as well as to their sectarian identity.

In June 1976, the situation took a grim turn when the Syrian army entered the fray, allying with the LF.

This resulted in a devastating barrage of artillery and tanks, while Christian militias besieged the camp, depriving its residents of vital resources such as water and electricity.

Despite these dire circumstances, the camp’s defenders tenaciously resisted, utilizing makeshift weapons and underground passages.

However, as their desperate pleas for international assistance went largely unanswered, the camp became a scene of unspeakable horrors.

Incessant shelling, sniper fire, and famine claimed countless lives.

Seige and bombings

During the 52-day siege, the refugee camp was bombed with 55,000 rockets and relief workers were prevented from entering it.

The August 12, 1976 fall of the camp marked the end of the siege and ushered in a wave of unspeakable atrocities as Lebanese and Syrian forces advanced.

Gruesome acts of violence ensued, with civilians bearing the brunt of the brutality. Among the crimes were indiscriminate massacres, mutilations, and the merciless killing of children, women, and elderly.

The human cost of the massacre was staggering, with 4,280 Palestinians losing their lives, half during the siege itself, and half during the camp’s eventual fall.

The vast majority of victims were non-combatants, including countless women, children, and the elderly, in addition to thousands more injured and hundreds reported missing.

In the aftermath, bulldozers started to demolish the camp and the survivors found themselves scattered among various other Palestinian camps in Lebanon, their lives forever altered by the horrors they had endured.

The Tal al-Zaatar massacre had a profound and lasting impact on Palestinian national identity, serving as a poignant emblem of their struggle and perseverance, while fostering solidarity and inspiration within their community.

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