perpetrated by a Lebanese Christian militia (Phalangists), which was under the political & military control of Israel. For 3 days, they engaged in rape, murder and mutilation of women and children w the knowledge of IDF troops surrounding the refugee camps. Israeli forces fired flares into the night sky to illuminate the darkness for the Phalangists, allowed reinforcements to enter the area on the 2nd day of the massacre, and provided bulldozers that were used to dispose of the bodies of many victims. Estimated death count: 2000 - 3500. Ariel Sharon was held responsible for the Massacre, but he was still voted as PM of Israel in 2001: Janet Lee Stevens, an American journalist, wrote to her husband, Dr. Franklin, after visiting the villages immediately after the massacre: "I saw dead women in their houses with their skirts up to their waists and their legs spread apart; dozens of young men shot after being lined up against an alley wall; children with their throats slit, a pregnant woman with her stomach chopped open, her eyes still wide open, her blackened face silently screaming in horror; countless babies and toddlers who had been stabbed or ripped apart and who had been thrown into garbage piles."