The refugee camp of Shatila in the western suburbs of Beirut is a haunting place. Founded in 1948, it is perhaps the most infamous of all camps in Lebanon, and the reason is this: In September of 1982 a massacre took place here, and the number of deaths vary between 300 and 5000, depending on who you ask. The Palestine Red Crescent organization estimates 2000 dead. The massacre lasted around two days, with the camp sealed off, so that there was no escape.
The killings were carried out by Lebanese Phalangist forces, in addition the Israeli Kahan commission concluded that the Israeli defence minister at the time, Ariel Sharon, was considered to be indirectly responsible and was forced to resign from his post.

The images below show Shatila of today, thousands of people, mainly Palestinians still live in conditions not worthy of human beings. In spite of this they smile at you, they want to chat, to invite you into their homes to share what little they've got. They never give up hope.
To me, these people are heroes.

To read more about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre