Ariel Sharon was a product of his time

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His actions were ethical and moral when it came to dealing with the Palestinians(Jordanians) etc.

Ariel Sharon has been a towering figure in Israeli politics and military affairs for decades. Read a chronology of major events in the life of the Israeli prime minister.

1928: Born to Russian immigrants in the farming community of Kfar Malal north of Tel Aviv.

1948: After fighting in a Jewish militia opposed to British control, serves with distinction in Israel's war of independence with Arab states. Sharon was severely wounded in a battle to break the siege of Jerusalem and carried the effects all his life, including near blindness in one eye.

1953: Heads Unit 101, a force carrying out reprisals for slaying of Israeli woman and her two children. In October, Sharon's troops blow up more than 40 houses in Qibya, a village in the West Bank, then ruled by Jordan. Sixty-nine Arabs die, about half of them women and children. Sharon says later he thought the houses were empty.

1956: Rebuked after engaging his troops in what his commanders regard as unnecessary and unplanned battle with Egyptian forces at Mitla Pass in Sinai Peninsula.

1957: Studies at Staff College in the UK.

1967: Receives broad praise for his command of an armored division in the Six-Day War, in which Israel captures the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

1971: Placed in charge of curbing terrorism in Gaza Strip. More than 100 suspected militants killed and hundreds detained. Attacks by Palestinians go from 34 in June to one in December.

1973: Commands drive by Israeli troops across the Suez Canal into Egypt during Mideast war. The assault cuts off Egypt's 3rd Army and helps turn the tide in fighting, establishing his reputation as war hero to many. He is grazed by a bullet in the head during the fighting.

December 1973: Elected to Knesset on Likud ticket.

1974: Resigns from Knesset.

1975: Premier Yitzhak Rabin appoints him to the post of special adviser security affairs.

1976: Relinquishes post to form the independent Shlomtzion (peace of Zion) party.

1977: After gaining only two seats in May 1977 elections, Sharon opts to merge with victorious Likud block.

1977-81: Minister of Agriculture under Menachem Begin.

1970s, 80s, early 90s: As government minister, leads push to build dozens of Jewish settlements in West Bank and Gaza Strip, despite Palestinian and international protest. Settlements are one of most contentious issues in current peace negotiations. However, when Israel has to return the Sinai desert to Egypt in 1982, Sharon overrides resistance from Jewish settlers and has their homes bulldozed to rubble.

1982: As defense minister (1981-83), engineers Israel's invasion of Lebanon. It is portrayed as quick, limited strike to drive Palestinian fighters from Israel's northern border. However, Israeli troops advance to outskirts of Beirut and war escalates. Israeli-allied Christian militia kill hundreds of Palestinians at refugee camps in west Beirut, sparking international outrage. Sharon was forced to resign after an Israeli inquiry (the Kahane Report) found him indirectly responsible for the massacre that occurred at Sabra and Chatila. Fighting in Lebanon lasts 18 years, until Prime Minister Ehud Barak unilaterally withdraws Israeli troops in May 2000.

2000: Sharon visits the disputed Temple Mount Sept. 28 to emphasize Israel's claim of sovereignty. Muslims, who call the site the Noble Sanctuary, are outraged, and widespread violence breaks out a day later. The bloodshed sparks a political crisis in Israel, leading to Barak's resignation. Sharon wins a landslide victory over Barak in Feb. 6, 2001, election for prime minister.

2003: Sharon wins early elections he was forced to call and remains prime minister. Later that year, Sharon begins construction of Israel's separation barrier along and in the West Bank.

Feb. 8, 2005: At a summit in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt, Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announce a cease-fire.

Aug. 17, 2005: Israel begins unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank. Sharon had earlier reversed his course of decades of support for Jewish settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank and Gaza. The last Israeli soldiers leave Gaza on Sept. 12, 2005.

Nov. 2005: Amid growing dissent within the Likud Party over the withdrawal from Gaza, Sharon leaves the party with many of his key allies to found Kadima. New elections are set for March 28, 2006.

Dec. 18, 2005: Suffers mild stroke, leaves hospital two days later.

Jan. 4, 2006: Suffers massive stroke.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5127808

 

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Sabra and Shatilla
No episode in Ariel Sharon’s career is more infamous than that of the massacres at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. Located on the outskirts of Beirut, the camps housed thousands of Palestinian refugees. When the PLO left Lebanon at the end of August, 1982, these refugees were extremely vulnerable. Palestinian refugees have faced hostility in many countries to which they fled after the Israeli victories in 1948 and 1967. In Lebanon, their presence only exacerbated the already violent inter-communal, political and religious divisions. The Maronite allies of Israel in particular were extremely antipathetic to the Palestinians.



On September 14, 1982, Maronite President-elect and ally of Israel, Bashir Gemayel was killed in an explosion. To this day, it is not known for certain by whom, though many favor the theory that it was Syrian intelligence. Gemayel’s election to the presidency seemed a major step toward Sharon’s vision of a client government taking power in Lebanon. With his death, Sharon’s “Grand Vision” for Lebanon collapsed.



Was it anger over the collapse of his plan that led Sharon to the actions taken at Sabra and Shatilla? One cannot say. In a recent article, Robert Fisk cited a lone Associated Press report that said that Sharon had publicly accused the Palestinians of being responsible for Gemayel’s assassination. No other report confirms this, however. In any case, Sharon’s claim that he was unaware of the enormous hatred for the Palestinians of the Maronite militia he helped send in to the camps was false, as he had been informed by intelligence officers and even members of the Israeli cabinet of this. Furthermore, it was common knowledge.




Some of the carnage of Sabra and Shatilla

From September 16 to 19, the Maronite Phalangist militia rampaged through Sabra and Shatilla. The camps were sealed off by Israeli soldiers who remained outside. Some later reported unease at the noises they heard, but no sound emanating from the camps could have betrayed the horror that was taking place inside them. When it was all over, the number of dead was estimated by Israel at between 700 and 800, the Lebanese government issued over 1,200 death certificates in the camps and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society put the death toll at over 2,000. Subsequent attempts at estimating the dead ranged from the Israeli figure to as many as 3,500. But in the end, the number is not what is most important. Even if it were the low figure, which seems unlikely, this would not diminish the horrifying nature of the atrocity. Thousands of men, women and children were killed, beaten, raped and tortured. The stories that emerged from survivors of Sabra and Shatilla were as chilling as those from any war or atrocity in history.



The international outcry, as well as a severe reaction in Israel, prompted the Begin government to set up a commission of inquiry into the matter, led by Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Kahan. The finding of the Kahan Commission that is most often reported is that Sharon bore “indirect responsibility” for the massacre. But the report also stated that Sharon bore “personal responsibility” for the massacre as well, something mentioned far less frequently. The preamble to the report states: “Mr. Sharon was found responsible for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge when he approved the entry of the Phalangists into the camps as well as not taking appropriate measures to prevent bloodshed.” In essence, the commission had no hard evidence that Sharon knew what would happen. But his plea of blissful ignorance of the general disposition of the Phalangists, in particular, their feelings toward the Palestinians in the wake of Gemayel’s assassination, and that some kind of excessive brutality was bound to occur is impossible to swallow. The tone of the commission’s report suggests they felt the same way.

Sabra and Shatilla | Jewish Voice for Peace

R.I.P. Bashir Gemayel

 

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