British News Agency

The State of Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, in a statement marking the 44th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, called for those responsible to be held accountable, saying war crimes and massacres should not be subject to statutes of limitation.

In a statement shared on the ministry’s social media account, it said Palestinians and Lebanese killed in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in September 1982 were commemorated.

The statement claimed that the Sabra and Shatila massacre was among the crimes suffered by the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israeli occupation and its collaborators, and said the incident demonstrated the scale of violations faced by Palestinian refugees and the risks created by a lack of accountability.

The ministry said Sabra and Shatila were not only a memory of a massacre that took place 44 years ago, but also an issue related to unfulfilled international responsibilities and United Nations resolutions.

The statement also claimed that impunity for those responsible for crimes and massacres committed in the past encourages new crimes, and called on the international community to hold war criminals accountable, compensate victims and ensure justice.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry emphasized that accountability for the Sabra and Shatila massacre, as well as for crimes committed in the past, should remain among the priority issues on the international community’s agenda.