Report: Sharon Repeating Lebanon History

Tuesday, April 02 2002 @ 05:12 PM GMT

RAMALLAH/TEL AVIV: The two key leaders in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict - Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon - were in a similar situation 20 years ago. Many experts in the region say they feel history may be repeating itself.

It was from Beirut, Lebanon, that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was sent into exile in 1982, after being defeated in a military campaign masterminded by then Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, now the country's prime minister.

The two have clear memories of the siege of Beirut that led to Arafat being banished to Tunisia, where he lived in exile until 1994, when he was authorized under peace process accords to establish Palestinian self-rule inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Today, the Palestinian leader, who remains inside his Ramallah headquarters under virtual house arrest, told CNN he feels he is re-living the past.

"For me it is not the first time. He [Sharon] has to remember what happened in 88 days in Beirut," Yasser Arafat said.

Sharon hardly needs reminding. He has expressed sorrow at failing to order the assassination of Arafat as the Palestinian leader stood on the docks at Beirut in 1982, waiting to sail into exile.

An Israeli sniper reported he had Arafat in his sights for a clear shot. But Sharon could not give the command because of a commitment Israel had given to the United States not to harm the Palestinian leader.

Sharon said last week that he regrets having been forced to give the same pledge again, this time to President Bush.

An Israeli commentator, Nahum Barnea, writes in the Hebrew daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that Sharon "has not changed his basic conception since 1982."

Barnea says that for the Israeli prime minister, "the score is still unsettled from then, waiting to be closed." The Israeli commentator says this explains what he calls Sharon's "tremendous urge to humiliate Arafat," a humiliation that Barnea says "has no logical use, but is just an old desire for revenge."

But Barnea also says he believes that Arafat "bears the main responsibility for the disaster that has fallen on him and on his people."

Israeli tanks attack Yasser Arafat's Ramallah offices
A Palestinian spokesman, Mustafa Barghouti, the head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Committee, also drew parallels between Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the situation today.

"This man [Sharon] is dangerous. He did it before in Lebanon, destroying the hope of peace in all Palestine and Israel, and he is doing it now in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," Barghouti said.