The Tel al-Zaatar Camp Massacre stands as one of the most intricate and harrowing events of the Lebanese Civil War. It embodies not only the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian presence in Lebanon, but also the entanglements with Syria, and the broader Arab and regional dynamics of that period.
Detailing the complex political and military campaign that led to the siege of the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp in East Beirut, which fell on August 12, 1976 after 52 days of a brutal blockade, could fill volumes. The events remain difficult to fully capture due to their complexity, conflicting narratives, and fragmented documentation. Until recently, no single, comprehensive narrative existed of the massacre, the siege, and its local, regional, and international contexts.
The massacre is historically noted as possibly the first mass killing of Palestinians by Arab forces, serving as a grim precursor to the more widely remembered 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, the other tragic ordeal endured by Palestinian civilian refugees in camps. Both massacres, British author Patrick Seale observes in "Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East," reflect the repeated suffering of Palestinians during times of conflict.
A veil of secrecy surrounded the massacre at the Lebanese, Palestinian, Arab, and international levels with unwillingness to expose the identity of its perpetrators due to political interests, gains, and alliances. There was no serious investigation launched or meaningful pressure applied to uncover the truth. Neither the United Nations nor international organizations took measures to hold the criminals accountable or achieve justice for the victims.
This neglect and impunity later contributed to the Sabra and Shatila massacre of September 16, 1982, in which over 3,000Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, mostly women, children, and the elderly, were killed over three days. Unlike Tel al-Zaatar, Sabra and Shatila received significant media coverage, extensive documentation, and historical attention.
Today, the Tel al-Zaatar massacre memory survives through the many books, studies, and eyewitness testimonies recounting the massacre, from the brutal siege and starvation of its residents, to the medical crisis, culminating in a humanitarian disaster. Among the most recent works is Dr. Muhammad Dawood Al-Ali’s "Tel al-Zaatar Camp: Chronicles of a Forgotten Massacre" (Arab Center for Research & Policy Studies, 2022), as well as two books by Palestinian doctors who witnessed the massacre: "My Story with Tel al-Zaatar" by Dr. Abdel Aziz AlLabadi, and "The Diary of a Doctor in Tel al-Zaatar" by Dr. Youssef Iraqi. These two doctors were part of a medical team of just four, the only medical staff present throughout the siege until the massacre.
The Story of the Camp
Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp was established in East Beirut in 1949, following the 1948 Nakba, to shelter Palestinian refugees who had been forcibly displaced from the northern cities of Palestine by Zionist militias. The camp covered an area of approximately one square kilometer, and was situated on the edge of an industrial zone. Over time, it became a community where Palestinians lived alongside working-class Lebanese groups and residents of other nationalities who had also settled there. By then, the total population of the camp was estimated at around 30,000 people.
On April 13, 1975, the Ain el-Remmaneh incident — widely known as the Bus incident — ignited the Lebanese Civil War. Armed members of the Lebanese Kataeb Party targeted a bus carrying Palestinians from Tel al-Zaatar as they returned from a national celebration in Sabra camp. Approximately 27 people were killed in the attack, and dozens were injured. This incident sparked clashes between Lebanese Christian right-wing militias, known as the secessionist forces,on one side, and Palestinians and their allies on the other, setting off a chain reaction of violence that quickly spread to other areas across Lebanon. The conflict drew in other local and international actors, creating shifting alliances and power balances. The cycle of violence continued until the Taif Agreement of 1989, which finally brought the fifteen-year-long civil war to an end.
By 1976, Tel al-Zaatar had become the only Palestinian enclave outside the control of the secessionist forces in East Beirut. Consequently, the camp was subjected to a siege by Lebanese militias in January of that year, which soon escalated into a full-scale military assault.
On June 22, 1976, the offensive began, when Tel al-Zaatar came under heavy artillery bombardment. By the end of the first day alone, approximately 8,000 shells had been fired, causing significant losses and widespread destruction to refugee homes, camp facilities, and infrastructure.
During the assault, the secessionist forces sabotaged the water pipes supplying the camp, worsening the humanitarian catastrophe imposed by the siege. This left residents dependent on a single artesian well beside the hospital, the only remaining water source in the camp, which bore witness to tragic stories claiming the lives of many residents, especially mothers who risked everything to fetch water to save their thirsty children. The people of Tel al-Zaatar faced death in many forms, from intense shelling and sniper fire to thirst and starvation.
Memory: A Shield Against Forgetting and Erasure
In his book, Dr. Al-Ali compiles a historical chronicle, meticulous documentation, and critical analysis of the circumstances leading to the massacre during the height of the two-year war (April 1975 to late September 1976) amidst the Lebanese Civil War.
No comprehensive narrative of the either war or the siege of Tel al-Zaatar had previously been published or integrated into curricula. Dr. Al-Ali’s book fills this gap by objectively investigating the massacre and addressing incomplete or biased accounts shaped by political and sectarian affiliations, given that the war involved a complex interplay of Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, regional, and international dynamics.
The book further highlights the historical evolution of Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian relations, dedicating an entire chapter to Syria’s role in shaping events, tracing its political and military actions since the Syrian initiative of 1976.
By chronicling the massacre and situating it within political, military, and human dimensions, the book emphasizes the legal, social, and economic realities of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s camps.
In his chapter on the assault, Dr. Al-Ali vividly portrays the humanitarian crisis during the siege. He details the food blockade imposed on 30,000 people in Tel al-Zaatar and the nearby neighborhoods of Jisr al-Basha and Nabaa, and the severe water scarcity, electricity outages, insufficient medical services, efforts to treat the wounded under poor conditions, mounting civilian deaths in shelters, difficulties in finding proper sites for burying the dead, attempts to recover bodies from collapsed buildings, and perilous evacuation routes through Christian neighborhoods under unsafe conditions and hostile circumstances that only worsened the situation.
The book also collects testimonies, some published for the first time, from survivors, eyewitnesses, and combatants. It traces accounts from military, political, and factional leaders on both sides, as well as civilians present during the massacre and survivors narrating their escape.
The Siege and Military Assault
The siege and destruction of Tel al-Zaatar unfolded in four phases: an initial seven-month food blockade imposed by Lebanese Christian right-wing militias in early 1976, followed by a 52-day coordinated military assault from all directions. The third phase involved the withdrawal of fighters toward the mountains while civilians attempted to movetoward militia-controlled lines. The final phase, on August 12, 1976, saw massacres by militias at checkpoints and inside militia-held areas, where civilians and medical teams were targeted. The remaining residents, mostly women and children,were then deported to West Beirut.
The final attack was the result of a military plan drawn up by General Michel Aoun and was executed by Christian right-wing militias and allied Lebanese army units. Camp defenders resisted fiercely, but ultimately collapsed after losing frontline defenses and their last remaining water source, with more than 13,000 civilians still trapped inside. After fighters surrendered and retreated via the mountains, militias committed massacres, and the fate of thousands of missing civilians remains unknown.
During the siege, the camp’s Popular Committee ensured daily provisions, exploiting occasional openings in supply routes — until the final three months when the siege was fully enforced. Numerous casualties fell to sniper fire and abductions during attempts to enter or leave the camp. Among the victims were those remembered as "water martyrs," mostly women and children fetching water under the threat of sniper fire, with injuries ranging from 10–30 per day.
Doctors Remember
During his relatively short tenure as doctor and director of Al-Karama Hospital in Tel al-Zaatar — just over a year — Dr. Abdel Aziz AlLabadi promoted community involvement in health care. He emphasized that health and prevention were a collective responsibility. Under his direction, street-cleaning campaigns were organized, and first-aid training was provided for camp residents, particularly young female volunteers, alongside a health survey to identify diseases affecting children and other camp residents.
Medical experiences during the siege and bombardment fostered health awareness among Palestinians, especially refugees, as detailed in the annex by Drs. AlLabadi and Iraqi. Surgeons had to operate on shrapnel and shell injuries without electricity, water, or sterilized equipment, improvising substitutes for essential supplies like blood bags, and created makeshift operating rooms in buildings that were under daily bombardment or at risk of collapse.
Al-Karama Hospital became the camp’s lifeline, treating patients and the wounded from all targeted areas. The medical team’s duties included preventive care, extensive training in nursing and first aid, daily patient follow-ups, social and psychological support for grieving families, surgical and emergency care, and sometimes even rescuing survivors trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
The revolutionary medical experience underlined the importance of both hospital infrastructure and community participation, educating many health workers and raising general health awareness, which helped mitigate numerous challenges despite the dire conditions.
Dr. Iraqi recounts the shortages in basic medical materials and stories of life under siege. In one instance, when a man brought a roll of fabric, nurses and residents had to improvise and cut it into makeshift bandages. Bread scarcity and water shortages forced desperate and extreme improvisations: paraffin was melted and poured into bottles with wicks to create candles, and a single cup of water was rationed among many. Death loomed over the camp as children faced deadly dehydration.
Dr. Iraqi also recounts his own escape, walking what felt like 300 meters among scattered corpses of civilians, including elderly men and women, children, and even a pregnant woman shot in the abdomen, with bodies and Palestinian ID cards littering the road, and past vehicles of militiamen rejoicing over the dead.
Tel al-Zaatar: Artistic Memory
The destruction of Tel al-Zaatar inspired a wealth of artistic and literary works across the Arab world. Lebanese artist Ziad Rahbani composed a musical piece titled "Tel al-Zaatar" 34 years after the siege. Immediately after the massacre, poets and artists from other Arab countries engaged with its memory. Egyptian poet Ahmed Fouad Negm wrote a song that was performed by Sheikh Imam, and later used as a soundtrack in Lebanese-Egyptian director Nabila Lotfy’s documentary Because Roots Do Not Die (1977). Iraqi poet Muzaffar Al-Nawab wrote a long poem titled "Tel al-Zaatar," while Iraqi artist Diaa Al-Azzawi published "The Physical Hymn: Drawn Poems of Tel al-Zaatar" in 1980 in Arabic, French, and English, featuring illustrations and poems by Arab poets like Mahmoud Darwish and Youssef Al-Sayegh.
Palestinian artists’ responses spanned multiple fields. During the siege itself, visual art pioneer Ismail Shammout painted a series of 28 daily canvases depicting the camp, while artist Tawfiq Abdel Aal produced multiple works portraying thesuffering of its residents.
In poetry, Mahmoud Darwish authored the long elegy "Ahmad al-Zaatar," published on the day of the camp’s fall, and later adapted into a song by Lebanese artist Khaled Al-Haber during the war. Poet Muin Bseiso dedicated a series on the camp’s resilience, including "I Cut My Hand to Send It to You, Tel al-Zaatar… A Telegram."
Cinema, too, memorialized the tragedy and became a powerful outlet for memory. The Palestinian Cinema Institution collaborated with Italy’s Unitalia to produce a 1977 documentary "Tall el-Zaatar" about camp residents during the siege. British actress Vanessa Redgrave produced "The Palestinian," directed by Roy Battersby, funding it personally by selling her house. Jordanian Adnan Madanat directed "News About Tel al-Zaatar " in 1976, and later in 1978, Iraqi Qassim Hawal produced a black-and-white film "Lebanon, Tal al-Za’atar."
In documentation, Ali Hussein Khalaf’s "Rising Again: Real-Life Testimonies from Tel al-Zaatar" and Adnan Aqleh’s "Tel al-Zaatar: Symbol and Myth" both provided accounts on the siege. Laila Fayed recorded interviews with Lebanese and Palestinian children in the camp in "Testimony and Dream: Documentary Dialogues with Tel al-Zaatar Children." In 1991, Palestinian author Liana Badr published her documentary novel "Eye of the Mirror," chronicling the lives of camp residents, a work later translated into English.
The written works, art, poetry, and cinema born out of Tel al-Zaatar have ensured that the tragedy lives on in memory. Tel al-Zaatar is not merely a chapter to be remembered of Lebanon’s civil war; it serves as a mirror reflecting the enduring vulnerability and suffering of Palestinian refugees and civilians in times of conflict.
If Tel al-Zaatar was the first warning, Sabra and Shatila was the confirmation that silence breeds repetition. Only by confronting these crimes, naming the perpetrators, and demanding accountability can history’s cycle of massacre and impunity be broken.