A VIEW OF PALESTINIANS REFUGEES CAMP BUILDING IN CONCRETE HOUSES, 1999-05-04 (photo)

TO GO WITH STORY BC-YUGOSLAVIA-PALESTINIANS - A view of the Palestinian refugee camp in Borj al Barajneh area in Beirut May 4. Refugees in their thousands fled from villages to safety with their ethnic kin across the border, escaping the fighting and the atrocities they feared would follow. The story sounds familiar but the refugees were not Albanian victims of "ethnic cleansing" by Serb forces in Kosovo but Palestinians driven to neighbouring countries by forces of the new Jewish state of Israel after its declaration of statehood in 1948. And, in a salutary warning to those expecting a quick resolution of the latest refugee crisis, almost no Palestinians who were turned into refugees more than a half century ago were allowed back to their homes. JS/JDP