AL-BIREH, West Bank -- The first Palestinian refugee camps were a product of the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. When Israel militarily occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in 1967, a second wave of Palestinian refugees was created. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government are creating a third wave of Palestinian refugees by attacking those very refugees that, decades ago, fled for their lives and have been living under illegal Israeli occupation ever since.
Twenty years ago, Sharon was responsible for the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in Lebanon. Today, the Sharon-Peres coalition is repeating history by entering refugee camps under the Palestinian Authority, killing people and destroying homes and property.
They are repeating history when they insist on keeping Arafat prisoner in Ramallah -- just as Sharon tried and failed to do in Beirut.