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Revision as of 05:30, 9 May 2002 by 212.25.85.58 (talk) (Removed statements belonging to the Palestinian position)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Ariel Sharon (Shinerman) became the Prime Minister of Israel on February 17, 2001. He was born in 1928 in Kfar Malal.
In 1942 he joined the Haganah at the age of 14. At the creation of Israel (and Haganah's transformation into the Israeli Defence Force), Sharon was a platoon commander in the Alexandroni brigade. He was severely wounded in the Second Battle of Latrun, but healed from his injuries. In 1949 he was promoted to a company commander, and in 1951 to an intelligence officer. He then took leave to complete a degree in Middle Eastern studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A year and a half later, he was asked to return to active service in the rank of major, as the head of the new Unit 101.
Over the course of the next five months, the unit completed a series of daring raids that helped restore Israeli citizen's morale and renew the Israeli deterrent image. However, the unit was also criticized for targeting civilians as well as the Arab armies, culminating in a raid on the West bank town called Kibiya in Autumn 1953, in which 69 Jordanian civilians were killed in an ambush to Arab Legion forces. Investigation showed that the order to maximize casualties was not given by Sharon, but by one of his superiors. Shortly afterwards, Unit 101 was merged into the 202nd Paratrooper Brigade (Sharon eventually becoming the latter's commander), which continued to attack military targets only, culminating with the attack on Kalkiliya Police in spring 1956.
In the 1956 Suez War, Sharon commanded the 202nd Brigade, and responsible for taking over grounds east of the Mitle Pass and eventually taking over it. Having successfully carried out the first part of his mission (joining a battalion paratrooped near Mitle with the rest of the brigade moving on ground), Sharon deployed near the pass. Aircraft flying over the area reported no enemy forces were seen inside the Mitle Pass, and so did scouts sent to the area. Sharon, whose forces were initially heading east, away from the pass report to his superiors that he was increasingly concerned with the possibility of an enemy thrust tthrough the pass, which could attack his brigade from the flank or the rear.
Sharon asked his superiors for permission to attack the pass several times; permission was denied, but he was authorized to check its status so that if it was empty, he could receive permission to enter in the future. Sharon then sent a small scout force which was met with heavy fire and got stuck due to vehicle malfunction. A bloody battle ensued in which more than 40 Israeli soldiers were killed, but the pass was taken. Although never criticized by the army itself, Sharon's conduct was attacked by some of his subordinates several years after the events, who claimed that Sharon was bullying with the Egyptians and sent out the scouts in bad faith, meaning a battle to ensue. Deliberate or not, the attack was against military wisdom, as the Egyptian forces staying in the pass, would have probably withdrawn in a day or two (as B.H. Liddell Hart would have put it, the indirect strategy of blocking the enemy would be much more efficient that the frontal attack that Sharon chose).
The incident had little influence on Sharon's military career, however, and in the following years, he rose rapidly in ranks holding the positions of infantry brigade commander, Infantry School commander, Head of IDF's Northern Command (receiving the rank of Major General) and Head of the Army training Branch. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Sharon commanded the most powerful armored division, which successfully completed a vital breakthrough through the Abu-Ageila fortified area. In 1969, he was appointed the Head of IDF's Southern Command, a position which he held up to his retirement in August 1973. He almost immediately joined the right-wing Likkud political party.
His military career was not over, however. At the start of the Yom Kippur War (October 6, 1973), Sharon was called back to duty and given a reserve armored division. While his forces did not engage the Egyptian army immediately, it was Sharon who helped to locate a breach between the Egyptian forces, which he then exploited to create a bridge-head on October 16, and to establish a bridge over the Suez Canal the following day. He then violated the orders given to him by Head of Sothern Command by exploiting the success by cutting the Egyptian supply lines. This decision (and Sharon's controversial political position), though declared justified by the military tribunal, led to tensions between him and the Head of Southern Command, causing his being relieved of duty in February 1974.
He was a member of the Knesset 1973-1974, and then from 1977-present. In 1975-1976, he served as the security adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He then served as Minister of Agriculture (1977-1981), and as Defense Minister (1981-1983) in Menachem Begin's Likud government.
During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, while Ariel Sharon was Defense Minister, a massacre of several hundred Palestinians occured in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in Beirut. An official government inquiry recommended that he be dismissed as Minister of Defense for reasons of gross negligence, although it did not find him complicit in the planning of the massacre. Others have disagreed with the report. In 1987, Time Magazine published a story implying Sharon's direct responsibility for the massacres; Sharon later won a libel case against them. In early 2001, relatives of the victims of the massacre began proceedings in Belgium to have Ariel Sharon indicted on war crimes charges.
The Kahan Committee investigating the events of Sabra and Shatilla, recommended in early 1983 the removal of Sharon from his post as Defense Minister. He was dismissed by the Prime Minister Begin; however he remained in the successive governments as a Minister without portfolio (1983-1984), Minister for Trade and Industry (1984-1990), and Minister for Housing Construction (1990-1992). In Benjamin Netanyahu's 1996-1999 government, he was Minister of National Infrastructure (1996-1998), and Foreign Minister (1998-1999). Upon the election of the Barak Labor government, he became leader of the Likud party. After the collapse of Barak's government, he was elected Prime Minister in February 2001.
Commentary on recent events and the evolution of the peace process
Palestinian position
Ariel Sharon has followed a military solutions based policy of no negotiations under fire. He refuses to engage in political negotiations until there is a seven day period of absolute peace and quiet in all of Israel and the occupied territories. Many people, the Palestinians, and some governments (mainly the European Union members) feel that this is an unrealistic demand, that could never be fulfilled.
Palestinians claim that all of the current policies followed by the Sharon government so far have failed to bring about this prerequisite for peace. They claim that the policies carried out by his government - assassinations of leaders of Palestinian groups (some of whom being labeled as terrorists is disputed), blockades of whole areas (including towns and villages), the destruction of infrastucture belonging both to Palestinian Authority (including police and security buildings) and private civillians, continued house demolitions, Israeli Army incursions into Palestinian territory, the confinement of the nominal head of the Palestinian people in his headquarters that essentially amounts to a house arrest - have only created further difficuly in calming the situation down. Palestinians consider Sharon's advocacy of settlement building in the occupied territories as a further step away from peace.
Palestinians claim that the recent round of violence was started because of a visit made by Ariel Sharon and over a thousand of his bodyguards marching in sites of Arab East Jerusalem sacred both to Muslims and Jews. Some commentators have even gone so far as to accuse him of purposely starting this event, to prevent the further continuation of peace talks.
Furthermore, Palestinians claim that Ariel Sharon really lacks a political agenda. He is a general and war operations are at the limit of his expertise.
As an Israeli political analyst put it: "Sharon sees the many trees, but can never see the forest." Sharon is an obstacle to peace for he is the new variable in the Middle East peace equation. Occupation is the cancer and until it is done away with there will be no peace.
Palestinians claim that Sharon works agressively against the Palestinians living in their own land, and that while his predecessors at least genuinely tried for peace and as such helped defuse tensions to a large extent, Sharon has pursued dirty politics and extreme aggression against the Palestinians.
Palestinians claim that Sharon's views are not representative of the majority of the Israeli public. As examples, they bring groups such as Peace Now, which has been calling for a return to negotiations ever since the beginning of the recent clashes, and a letter signed by several hundreds of Israeli reservists (a minor percentage of the Israeli reserve force) that refused to serve in the territories because of the danger that this created for Palestinian civilians. In recent days this protest has increased in number to over 250 reservists.
Up to a thousand of Israeli reserve officers and retired officials of Israel's security agencies (some of whom occupied positions of imporance in the past) advocate a unilateral retreat from the territories that would allow for the creation of a Palestinian state. They claim that by withdrawing from these territories it will force the Palestinian leadership to resume its security responsibilities towards the Israeli population.
They claim further that even if the Palestinian Authority would not comply, the very introduction of a border would be beneficial to Israeli security. Others disagree, argumenting their claim by Israel's resulting inability to deal with mortar and missile attacks, already common in the conflict.
Israeli Position
Recent polls indicate that Ariel Sharon enjoys a great degree of confidence and trust on behalf of the Israeli public. They indicate that many Israelis supports Sharon's policies, and considers them either adequate or even not extensive enough in the military sense. Israelis maintain, that their country has a pluralistic political tradition which allows for the functioning of the peace movements.
Secondly, Ariel Sharon claims, and many Israelis agree, that terrorism is an absolute evil. From their point of view, the Palestinian leadership put itself into a subhuman level by deciding not to do anything to stop terrorism. Ariel Sharon has declared that he will not negotiate until they adopt an opposite direction. In addition, Ariel Sharon claimed that he does not object to the setting up of a Palestinian state, however some people feel that the Palestinian claims are illegitimated by their policy of violence and terrorism. Sharon claimed recently that he is not interested in the collapse of the Palestinian authority or in taking over Palestinian cities.
Finally, many Israelis feel that the recent conflict is a war, and that therefore the behavior of the Israeli side must be militaristic by definition. Many Israelis claim that the targeted killings are aimed mainly at people who have openly declared that they are engaged in terrorist activity, would not step down from it, and would not be taken to jail by the Palestinian Authority; thus, the only way to prevent them from carrying out acts of terrorism that they are planning would be to arrest them, or to kill them (the former is much more frequent).