Tall al-Zaʿtar Refugee Camp
TALL AL-ZAʿTAR REFUGEE CAMP
Refugee camp in East Beirut, Lebanon.
Built in 1950 by UNRWA (United National Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East), Tall al-Zaʿtar's Palestinian and South Lebanese population exceeded thirty thousand refugees by the early 1970s. In perhaps the bloodiest battle of the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975, members of the Christian Phalange laid siege to the camp 22 June 1976. Thousands of residents are believed to have been killed during the siege and the mass killings that followed the Phalangist victory 12 August. The remaining population of the camp was transferred to West Beirut. The Phalangists' intent is believed to have been the expulsion of all non-Christians, and particularly the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), from East Beirut. The Christian militias had largely avoided direct confrontations with the PLO until the Syrian army entered the war in Lebanon on the Christian side 31 May 1976. The PLO defended the camp for fifty-two days before it fell with the help of Syrian artillery.
see also phalange.
Bibliography
Petran, Tabitha. The Struggle over Lebanon. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1987.
Smith, Pamela Ann. Palestine and the Palestinians, 1876–1983. New York: St. Martin's, 1984.
elizabeth thompson