One month after the withdrawal of the PLO fighters to Tunis , on September 16 – 18 , 1982 , a massacre occurred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp in southern Beirut . This massacre was the work of the Phalange , a mostly Maronite Christian right-wing militia , which acted with the knowledge of allies in the Israel Defense Forces , including Ariel Sharon , in order to uproot residual PLO elements at a time when Israeli forces were poised to enter West Beirut . Stevens toured Sabra and Shatila immediately after the massacre ; witnessed the Red Crescent 's efforts to collect the dead bodies , some of which , she reported , showed evidence of rape and mutilation ; and interviewed survivors . According to UCC Palestine Solidarity Campaign , a group of students and staff at University College Cork ( Ireland ) engaged in recording the history of Palestinian political advocacy , Stevens went to the U.S. embassy on the day of her death to urge William McIntyre , Deputy Director of USAID in Lebanon , to pledge more U.S. aid to Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shi’a groups in Lebanon . According to the University of Pennsylvania 's '' Almanac '' , Stevens had also been serving as an interpreter to an Arab delegation to the embassy . Stevens and McIntyre were lunching together in the embassy cafeteria when a truck carrying 2,000 pounds ( 900 kg ) of explosives crashed into the building and detonated . Seven floors in the middle of the building collapsed and " pancaked " . The bombs killed 63 people , including 32 Lebanese and 17 Americans . At least eight of the dead were officers of the Central Intelligence Agency , including Robert Ames , the CIA ’s leading Middle East expert . The remainder were Lebanese staff and others . About 120 more people were injured
massacre occurred in the Sabra and Shatila
Sabra and Shatila massacre
Janet Lee Stevens