Sir: Christopher Hitchens (19 February) seems somewhat self-satisfied as a
result of the Kahan Commission's findings. He feels that it vindicates his position, as if pleased that the Commission was necessary in the first place. What he conspicuously fails to point out is that by all accounts the Israelis did not send Christian Phalangists into the camp to carry out a 'pogrom', if by 'pogrom' he means the slaughter of inno- cent women and children. Rather, they bear indirect responsibility because the Begin ad- ministration tragically failed to foresee such a possibility.
Perhaps Mr Hitchens refuses to believe the Commission's conclusions after that body democratically, thoroughly and quickly surveyed the evidence. Perhaps he thinks Begin, Sharon and Eitan actually hoped that civilians would be massacred, against contrary considerations of principle and prudence. But would Mr Hitchens then inform Spectator readers how this matches his apparent support of the PLO, which avowedly and unashamedly carries out its struggle by a commitment to indiscriminate terrorism?
Laurence Grafstein
Balliol College, Oxford
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