On June 29, 1976, massacres were committed against its residents by Lebanese right-wing militias, most notably the Kataeb Party led by Pierre Gemayel, the Tigers militia affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement led by Camille Chamoun, the Zgharta Liberation Army led by Tony Frangieh, and the Guardians of the Cedars militia.
Following the siege imposed by these militias on the camps of Jisr al-Basha and Tel al-Zaatar in January 1976, the defenses of the residents of Jisr al-Basha camp, predominantly Catholic Palestinian Christians, collapsed. The isolated men were killed, and horrific acts of rape were committed against the women. The number of victims at that time was around 200 martyrs. This massacre was preceded by the events of the famous Tel al-Zaatar camp and the massacre committed by the same militias in August of the same year in the camp. The number of martyrs in the massacre was estimated at three thousand Palestinians. Several historians, including the Jewish historian Israel Shahak and others, mention that during the siege, the Lebanese Christian forces received full support from the Zionist entity and the United States.
Jisr al-Basha camp, which disappeared from existence thereafter, was established in 1952 on an area of 22,000 square meters, and most of its residents were Palestinian Catholics who were displaced from the cities of Haifa, Jaffa, and Akka.
It is worth noting that the perpetrators of the massacres against the residents of the Jisr al-Basha and Tel al-Zaatar camps were not subjected to any accountability or trial, while the two camps turned into painful memories in Palestinian history.
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