ABSTRACT
The Israeli Commission of Inquiry was established under a general statute: the Commission of Inquiry Law. The Commission had on its Bench two members of the Israeli Supreme Court and a retired general. The indignation of the 147 governments voting for the Resolution exhausted itself in this gesture. The Israeli Government would have preferred an informal inquiry by Chief Justice Kahan, President of the Israeli Supreme Court, on the Beirut massacres. During the millenium when Beirut formed part of the Roman Empire, it became a major port, centre of learning and meeting ground of a multitude of races, religions and civilisations. The Lebanese Government limited its inquiry into the Beirut massacres of 1982 to the establishment of an ad hoc administrative commission, operating secretly and charged with the task of reporting to the Lebanese Government. In Lebanon, the Beirut massacres were swiftly overshadowed by subsequent fighting between Maronite Christians and Druzes as well as between pro- and anti-Syrian Muslim factions.
