During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s, while Ariel Sharon was Defense Minister, a massacre of several thousand Palestinians occured in the Shabra and Shatila refugee camps in Israeli-occupied areas of Lebanon. The massacre was done by Lebanese factions aligned with Israel; Sharon had personally ordered the factions to enter the refugee camps, in order to flush out 'terrorists' which were allegedly hiding in the camps. Critics of Sharon claim that he knew that the Lebanese factions were likely to commit war crimes, and yet sent them in anyway. In the ensuing controversy, Ariel Sharon was forced to resign as Defense Minister. An Israeli government inquiry found that Ariel Sharon had some degree of responsibility for the massacre, but did not find that he was guilty of war crimes himself. Relatives of the victims of the massacre have begun proceedings in Belgium, seeking to have Ariel Sharon indicted on war crimes charges. (Belgium courts have the power, under both Belgium and international law, to try war crimes committed anywhere in the world.) Ariel Sharon cancelled an official visit to Belgium in early 2001, which many said was because he feared being arrested, although the official reason given was the bombing of a disco in Israel.