Milestones

DIED. Yitzhak Kahan, 72, former justice and president (1977-83) of Israel's Supreme Court, known for his broad legal knowledge, integrity and modesty, who headed the commission of inquiry into the Israeli role in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees by Christian militiamen in Beirut; of a heart attack; in Haifa. The Kahan commission's exhaustive, carefully worded report assigned "personal responsibility" to Defense Minister Ariel Sharon for not anticipating and ordering measures to prevent the bloodshed and apportioned a "certain degree" of blame to Prime Minister Menachem Begin.