The Bulldozer Of Israel: Ariel Sharon's Legacy
By Shakeel Anjum
13 January, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Ariel Sharon, the ex-prime minister of Israel died without facing the charge for his most gruesome atrocities on the Palestinians. Today the West, especially the U.S secretary of state, John Kerry cherishes the legacy of Sharon who, "sought to bend the course of history towards peace" and the for UN chief, Moon he was "hero to his people". According to Shimon Peres, the President of Israel, Ariel Sharon was “an outstanding man and an exceptional commander who moved his people and loved them, and the people loved him" and for Netanyahu he was a “brave warrior” and
Played a major part in the struggle for the country's security throughout all of its years. He was first and foremost a brave warrior and a great general, one of the greatest commanders the IDF has seen. He goes on to add
As a youth he reported for duty on the battlefield on behalf of the people of Israel. He did so as a soldier in the War of Independence, and as a commander in the Sinai Campaign, the Six Day War and up to the Yom Kippur War. In between, he founded Unit 101 and promoted the concept of taking the initiative and payback in the war against terror that became part and parcel of Israeli policy. When he stepped out of uniform he continued to serve the people of Israel in the many posts he served in Israeli governments and, of course, as Israel's 11th prime minister. His memory will be kept forever in the nation's heart."
According to New York Times, Sharon was a man of “ferris wheel”, a “ Ruthless Warrior Who Could Have Made Peace” and goes on to comment that if he was in his prime of health then he would have “ reached a peace agreement with the Palestinians. And he would have used his powerful personality and irresistible drive, as well as the widespread affection he had acquired among his people, to force the right-wing settler movement to accept it”. According to CNN, Sharon was a “decorated warrior” who also strived for peace with the Palestinians.
Among all these accolades and praises for Ariel Sharon the most glaring praise was from Barack Obama who is responsible for continuing the Bush legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said
On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the family of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and to the people of Israel on the loss of a leader who dedicated his life to the State of Israel. We reaffirm our unshakable commitment to Israel's security and our appreciation for the enduring friendship between our two countries and our two peoples. We continue to strive for lasting peace and security for the people of Israel, including through our commitment to the goal of two states living side-by-side in peace and security. As Israel says goodbye to Prime Minister Sharon, we join with the Israeli people in honoring his commitment to his country. ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/11/statement-president-passing-ariel-sharon )
The eulogy drawn by the west and its leaders for Ariel Sharon is that he was a committed “warrior” committed to “peace”. A perfect piece of writing would have come from George Orwell if he was alive and have witnessed Mr. Sharon as a peaceful warrior. May we ask from the side of the countless Palestinians who died due to his butchery policies in Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza w hich continues to this day? The survivors of his massacre spree are still living with horror. Who was Sharon and what was his legacy?
For Palestinians he was a murderer, a butcher committed to the destruction of Palestine. Al Jazeera perfectly comments on Sharon's legacy
It is easy to forget, with eulogies casting him as the unexpected "peace-maker", that for most of his long military and political career Ariel Sharon was known simply as The Bulldozer. That is certainly how he will be remembered by Palestinians. His death was announced on Israeli army radio on Saturday. He was 85 years old and had been comatose since 2006.
Mikhael Warschawski, a founder of the joint Israeli-Palestinian advocacy group the Alternative Information Centre, describes Sharon as one of only two "political visionaries" in Israel's history, along with the country's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion.
"Yes, he was brutal, but he was more than that," Warschawski said. "Like Ben Gurion, and unlike modern politicians such as current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he was uninterested in petty party politics. He had a project he would not be distracted from - a view of what Israel is and what it should be."
That vision was ultimately forged by Sharon's military and political experiences. ( http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/ariel-bulldozer-sharon-dies-2014189155907953.html )
In 1953, as a commander of the Unit 101, Ariel Sharon led his team to the destruction of more than 45 houses while the residents were inside in Qibiya, Palestine in which more than 60 people were killed and later claimed that the houses were all empty. Let us look at his role as a commander of IDF responsible for invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and arming and supporting the Phalangist militia led by Bashir Gemayal which ultimately resulted in creation of the “army of God” in the Southern part of Lebanon known as Hezbollah.
The most gruesome of the atrocities was the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut, Lebanon in 1982 where under his supervision and command, the Phalangist militias kept on butchering innocent Palestinians, men, women, children under the fired illuminating flares by the Israeli Defense Forces which claims itself to be the most moral army in the world. The camps were encircled by the tanks and army of soldiers on the 15 th of spetember, 1982. All the entry and exit points were manned by the IDF soldiers. The IDF used flares at night for this butchery by Phalangist militias. Sharon's involvement in the crime was proved and indicted by Kahan Commission which held him “personally responsible” for the massacre. What does this gruesome act of crime on the refugees living in the camps mean for the witnesses like Mohammad and Nawal Abu Rodaina, who are still alive? Rodaina was eight years old when the massacre happened. She still recalls the days of the brutality with horror. She said
Memories are etched so deeply in my mind that I can't forget them for as long as I live and Sharon's death won't relieve me because he was not tried and punished for the crimes he committed against my family and the families of hundreds of other Palestinians like me. ( http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2006/01/20084914446176191.html )
And for Mohammad who was only five at that time who recalls how his father was pacifying him as nothing would happen to them. They knew they are going to die. Among the nine men, his father was lined up against the wall and was killed by gunfire. Mohammad recounts “her Lebanese neighbor who survived told us that the militiamen were betting over the sex of the baby before killing her and removing the fetus.”
( http://www.aljazeera.com/archive/2006/01/20084914446176191.html )
As Robert Fisk a renowned journalist covering the Lebanon civil war wrote of Sharon's involvement in massacre wrote
The subsequent Israeli Kahan commission of enquiry into this atrocity provided absolute proof that Israeli soldiers saw the massacre taking place. The evidence of a Lieutenant Avi Grabovsky was crucial. He was an Israeli deputy tank commander and reported what he saw to his higher command. "Don't interfere," the senior officer said. Ever afterwards, Israeli embassies around the world would claim that the commission held Sharon only indirectly responsible for the massacre. It was untrue. The last page of the official Israeli report held Sharon "personally responsible". It was years later that the Israeli-trained Phalangist commander, Elie Hobeika, now working for the Syrians, agreed to turn state's evidence against Sharon - now the Israeli Prime Minister - at a Brussels court. The day after the Israeli attorney general declared Sharon's defence a "state" matter, Hobeika was killed by a massive car bomb in east Beirut.
( http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/ariel-sharon-by-robert-fisk-521809.html )
He was personally the in charge of Operation Defensive Shield and his role in quelling the Palestinian Intifada is well known to every conscientious citizens of the world. This was the peace he felt deep inside his heart while killing innocent Palestinians. This is what the West means by Sharon's peace.
According to Historian and sociologist, Baruch Kimmerling, who wrote Politicide: Ariel Sharon's War against the Palestinians wrote , "Israel under Ariel Sharon became an agent of destruction, not only for its surrounding environment but for itself as well, because its domestic and foreign policy is largely oriented towards one major goal: The politicide of the Palestinian people". By Politicide Kimmerling meant a process whose ultimate goal is “the dissolution of Palestinian peple's existence as a legitimate social, political and economic entity.” The fact that Kimmerling wrote this book in Canada as a temporary refuge in Toronto under compulsions speaks of Israel's curb on freedom and democracy itself while calling the dissenting voices as "self hating jew". Under Sharon Israel continued to occupy the Palestinian territory and building of settlements with the American support so much so that he was known as the father of illegal construction of settlements. The much talked about Sharon's disengagement from Gaza was not due to his charismatic leadership but the resilience and struggle of the Palestinians in reclaiming Gaza for Palestine. The eulogization of Sharon as hero, warrior and peacemaker by the west speaks of hypocrisy, double standards and silence over the gruesome war crimes and injustice to the Palestinians.
Shakeel Anjum, Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU
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