On Tuesday the 14th of September, a powerful explosion destroyed the headquarters of the Phalangist party (Kataeb). Many people were killed. Bashir Gemayel, the president-elect was present at the time of the blast, but first reports suggested he had been injured only slightly.
At that time I was working in Akka-hospital, situated at the southern edge of Shatila camp. It was in the early hours of Wednesday the 15th of September. I was on night duty with Intissar Ismael, a 19 year old attractive Palestinian student nurse. At 2 a.m. Khaled, the hospital administrator, came into the ward and told us that Bashir Gemayel was dead. He had been one of the last to be pulled out of the rubble of the Phalangist headquarters. The news was received with fear and trepidation by patients and staff alike. I knew why.
My first ever encounter with Palestinian refugees was in 1975 in Tell al-Zaater, a camp in what was now East-Beirut. In the summer of 1976, after the Civil War in Lebanon had erupted, the Phalangists and the Tigers, another maronite christian militia, laid siege to this camp for 53 days. People were dying of thirst or shot by snipers, trying to obtain water.
At that time I was working in Akka-hospital, situated at the southern edge of Shatila camp. It was in the early hours of Wednesday the 15th of September. I was on night duty with Intissar Ismael, a 19 year old attractive Palestinian student nurse. At 2 a.m. Khaled, the hospital administrator, came into the ward and told us that Bashir Gemayel was dead. He had been one of the last to be pulled out of the rubble of the Phalangist headquarters. The news was received with fear and trepidation by patients and staff alike. I knew why.
My first ever encounter with Palestinian refugees was in 1975 in Tell al-Zaater, a camp in what was now East-Beirut. In the summer of 1976, after the Civil War in Lebanon had erupted, the Phalangists and the Tigers, another maronite christian militia, laid siege to this camp for 53 days. People were dying of thirst or shot by snipers, trying to obtain water.