Brussels - New confidential documents indicate that current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the army's former leadership were directly responsible for massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in 1982. Lawyers for the survivors, who have filed a complaint against Sharon in Belgium, said this. 
	
	
 On behalf of some Palestinian survivors, lawyers Luc Walleyn and Michael Verhaeghe on 18 June filed a complaint with the Brussels Public Prosecution Office against Sharon and other Israeli and Lebanese persons deemed responsible for the massacres in Beirut. 
	
	
 A few days after filing the complaint, the lawyers received a stack of documents in Hebrew and in English regarding the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the Sabra and Shatila events. The documents include meeting reports, and intelligence service and interrogation reports. The lawyers refused to reveal the source of the documents. 
	
	
 Judging from a few texts that De Standaard was given access to, the documents seem to be related to the Israeli Kahan Commission. This special commission investigated the Sabra and Shatila events in 1982-1983. It published a report, but not all the documents and interrogation reports were released, because they were deemed damaging to the state's interests. 
	
	
 Walleyn are Verhaeghe are convinced of the authenticity of the documents. They gave the entire stack to Investigating Magistrate Patrick Collignon. The lawyers expect that the Public Prosecution Office will request Israel to confirm the documents' authenticity. 
	
	
 It had already been known that Lebanese Phalangist militias, which perpetrated the massacres, cooperated closely with Israel, but according to the lawyers, various documents now indicate that Israel and the Phalange had planned the actions in the camps in advance, that Israel exercised complete control over the militias, and that, in the wake of the massacres, the Israeli army instructed the Phalange to assume responsibility. "In practice, the Phalangist militias operated directly under Israeli command. Senior generals and Sharon bore command responsibility [preceding two words published in English] for the militias' actions. According to Belgian and international criminal law, they could be held responsible," Verhaeghe said. 
	
	
 Tomorrow, the Chamber for Indictments will begin the debate on Investigating Judge Collignon's questions on the legitimacy of the case against Sharon. A ruling is expected by the end of this year or early next year. 
	
	
 In the meantime, the lawyers have also initiated a civil suit against Elie Hobeika, the militia leader who is regarded as one of the main perpetrators of the massacres. In the complaint, Hobeika had not yet been called by name. The lawyers deemed it wise to do this now because one of Collignon's questions is connected with the juridical consequences of a Lebanese amnesty law.