Israel's Invasions, 20 Years Apart, Look Eerily Alike

JERUSALEM -- Twenty years ago, Israel set out to rearrange the geopolitical balance in the region by invading Lebanon. The result--for Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and the peace process--was a catastrophe whose lessons should not be forgotten by either the warriors or the peacemakers in the current West Bank conflict.

The circumstances of the two military adventures are eerily similar. So is the cast of characters, as well as the high stakes involved for Washington. Israel's reasons for taking the offensive in Lebanon and the West Bank were the same: to root out terrorism. The world's angry reaction was the same. So much is unchanged that one Israeli newspaper has called the current crisis "Sharon versus Arafat, Round II."

Today, as he was in Lebanon, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is trapped by the forces of Ariel Sharon, now Israel's prime minister. Refugee camps look as though they have been struck by an earthquake. The United States is once again oddly uninfluential with Israel and less than accommodating to Palestinians. As one Israeli columnist put it, rephrasing Marx, people should remember that history occurs twice--first as tragedy, then as super-tragedy.