A mere five months ago this columnist decried Ariel
Sharon's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza strip.
Sharon's mighty political will single-handedly erased
twenty-one isolated farming communities, and
inaugurated a radical-centrist political movement
embodied by Sharon. Several terrorist groups
celebrated the Israeli withdrawal with festooned
parades and turf wars.
Today, under the nervous gape of European Union
"monitors," anarchy reigns in Gaza. Last Wednesday,
at the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt,
terrorists operating two stolen bulldozers shot dead
two Egyptian border guards and injured twenty as they
tore down a section of the border wall. It appears
this "protest" was mounted by comrades of Alla
al-Hams, the Al-Aqsa terrorist arrested by the
Palestinian Authority for kidnapping three Britons;
Hams was released the next day.
Sharon has a long list of enemies, from the devoutly
religious farmers of Gaza he expelled to the Arabs he
fought throughout his life. Since his massive stroke
on January 4th, we have seen his accomplishments
discussed and distorted; let's try to get a few things
straight.
Sharon demonstrated brilliance as a general during the
Yom Kippur War in 1973. The surprise attack began on
the holiest Jewish holiday, led by Egypt and Syria,
supported by personnel and munitions from Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Sharon engineered a bold offensive across the Suez Canal
to outflank the Egyptian Army, forcing United Nations
pressure to end the war in stalemate.
In the current news coverage of Sharon's life, you may
hear of his "indirect responsibility" for the murder
of innocent civilians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee
camps during the Lebanese civil war in 1982. In order
to root out an estimated 200 armed terrorists in the
camps, Israeli troops allowed 150 Christian Phalangist
troops to enter. When the dust settled, various
credible estimates stated 460-800 people had been
killed, including 35 women and children. The rest
were men: Palestinians, Lebanese, Pakistanis,
Iranians, Syrians, and Algerians. News of the carnage
shocked Israel, and the Kahan Commission of Inquiry
determined the Israeli military command should have
anticipated the possibility such killing might occur.
Sharon resigned his postion as Defense Minister.
As terrible as the slaughter at Sabra and Shatila was,
one must understand it was not the work of Ariel
Sharon. Lebanon's civil war produced many such
gruesome battles between irregulars seeking vengeance
and control of the ravaged country. The PLO, Shiite
Amal militia, Syrian forces, Christian Phalangists,
and other combatants with obscure affiliations
produced over 95,000 deaths. To this day Lebanon is
still an unruly battleground with an ineffective
government. Beirut was called the "Paris of the
Middle East" until the PLO and competing Christian and
Muslim factions began to vie for power in the
pluralistic enclave.
Another myth you may hear is that Sharon instigated
Palestinian hostilities in September of 2000, when he
visited the Western Wall and Temple Mount, Judaism's
holiest sites. He did not approach the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, and had prior clearance for his visit from the
Palestinian Authority. The spark for the second
"intifada"--what a despicable word, which means
"shaking off," as if Israel could be shaken off like
dandruff--was Arafat's flat refusal to accept the
magnanimous offer from Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton at
Camp David. Don't take my word for it, hear it from
the Palestinian leadership itself:
Imad Al-Faluji - PA Communications Minister - Al-Safir
- 3/3/2001
"Whoever thinks that the intifada broke out because of
the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque is
wrong...This intifada was planned in advance, ever
since President Arafat's return from the Camp David
negotiations, where he turned the tables on President
Clinton."
Marwan Barghouti - New Yorker - January 29, 2001
"The explosion would have happened anyway. It was
necessary in order to protect Palestinian rights. But
Sharon provided a good excuse. He is a hated man."
Loved, hated, fierce, radical, peacemaker--get well soon.
