Sharon gets away with murder
Sharon's victory brought with it the tragic reality that Arab blood is of no
value in a world that claims to be championing democracy and human rights
By Ramzy Baroud
February 11, 2001, 05:42 PM
SEATTLE
- South Lebanon's refugee camps were ready to survive yet another frightful
night under the coercive control of the Israeli Army in September of 1982.
Palestinian fighters were just shipped into several Arab and world capitals
following a US-brokered deal to evacuate the fighters and to guarantee the
safety of civilians.
Sharon since 1967 Mideast war has been at the white-hot center of the
Arab-Jewish conflict throughout his life as a soldier and politician
'I knew that in such actions there is no way to avoid civilian causalities,
no matter what precautions are taken.'
At 6:00 pm on Sep. 16, 1982, the Israeli Army, led by then defense minister
Ariel Sharon tightened its grip at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Israeli
searchlights illuminated the two camps and orders were given to Lebanese
Phalangists who worked under the command of Sharon to execute a gruesome
mission. A bloody episode that lasted for 36 hours caused the death of over
3000 Palestinians and Lebanese. Hundreds of women were raped, and entire
families perished as Sharon's orders were carried to the last word. But the
massacre was a justifiable action according to Sharon. "Like everyone who has
ever experienced house-to-house fighting, I knew that in such actions there
is no way to avoid civilian causalities, no matter what precautions are
taken," he claimed in his 1989 autobiography "Warrior".
History of Crime
The Sabra and Shatila massacre was not Sharon's only war crime, for his chain
of crimes against humanity was launched in 1953, when he led the infamous
army Unit 10l, killing 69 civilians in the Jordanian village of Qibiya. In
Qibiya, Sharon and his troops opened fire and bombarded inhabited houses with
hand grandees. Innocent civilians had little time to flee or to defend
themselves. "One story was repeated time after time: the bullet splintered
door, the body sprawled across the threshold, indicating that the inhabitants
were forced by heavy fire to stay inside until their homes were blown up over
them," a UN observer described the scene. The massacre however, generated
pride for Israel's celebrated war hero. "But while the civilian deaths were a
tragedy, the Kibbiya raid was also a turning point. After so many defeats and
demoralizing failures it was now clear that Israeli forces were again capable
of finding and hitting targets far behind enemy lines," wrote Sharon as he
described the massacre of Qibiya in "Warrior".The ill-famed warrior led a
career of terror against helpless civilians in occupied land, whether in
Palestine, Jordan, Egypt or Lebanon. He received his military decorations
with hands soaked in blood and with a heart that felt no remorse.
Mad warmonger still at large
The striking and deeply shameful reality however, is that a warmonger like
Sharon has managed for over fifty years to proceed in a seemingly endless
bloodbath to establish a biblical fantasy. And while aging Nazi war criminals
are being hunted down and brought to justice, many world governments have
celebrated war criminals like Sharon. It's even more horrifying that Sharon
is now Israel's prime minister and the ultimate decision maker in Israeli
affairs. True, if one judges Israel's leaders by their Arab victims, Sharon
stands to be the bloodiest by far.
Sharon, a man with a vision
And unlike what many journalists described as his vision for Israel's peace
and security, the man's vision is evident, clear and disturbing.
A survivor of the 1982 massacres of Shatila camp said choosing between Barak
or Sharon was like asking: 'Do you want to be killed individually or
collectively?
For one, he has been the greatest advocate of the settlement policy in the
occupied territories. His vision regarding the settlements was articulated in
a speech to Jewish settlers Nov. 17, 1998 as he exclaimed, "seize the
hilltops." His first cabinet position under the Likud Party in 1977 was
minister of agricultural in charge of settlements. His views on "Israeli
Arabs" were made clear in many occasions and through his extensive support of
the land seizing policy conducted by right-wing Israeli parties. He told
Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot in July 3, 1988 while speaking of Israel
Arabs "They should be expelled; their homes destroyed." In his autobiography,
Sharon described Jordan as "a country where most of the population is
Palestinian, most members of parliament are Palestinian, most of the cabinet
is Palestinian, and most of the prime ministers have been Palestinian. Jordan
is in fact if not in name a Palestinian state." In turn, his views on
Palestinian territorial rights in the West Bank and Gaza are little
contested. He said, "no one will touch Judea and Samaria, or Gaza either.
They belong to us. They have been ours of thousands of years, eternally."
Pinochet, Milosevic, but not Sharon?
The reemergence of Ariel Sharon brings with it a history of crimes and
inhumanity, and it coincides with international pressure to bring Serbian war
criminal Slobodan Milosevic to justice and to indict the Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet. Moreover, the coming of Sharon, who is also known as the
"Butcher" and the "Bulldozer" took place only a few days after the US
Administration approved $3.5 million in aid to Iraqi opposition groups. The
Iraqi opposition’s assignment is to provide legal foundation to indict Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein before a war crimes tribunal. Tragically, for Sharon's
victims, not long after he was crowned as the prime minister of Israel, he
was showered with congratulating telephone calls from world leaders who often
claim to be championing democracy and human rights. First, he had a
"productive" conversation with US President George Bush, then a "cordial
chat" with British Prime Minster, Tony Blair.
Arabs to "give the new leader a chance
"Arab leaders and governments, on the other hand, were urged by Bush and his
Secretary of State Collin Powel to "give the new leader a chance." Some of
them in fact appeared very interested in the idea. Sharon's advisor, Majali
Wahabi was recently assigned to head to Jordan to deliberate with Jordanian
officials regarding the "diplomatic situation" in the region. Jordan
officially announced that it would reserve judgment on Israel's prime
minister until it saw his impact on the Middle East peace process. Similarly,
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told reporters following Sharon's victory
announcement "we will wait and see what Sharon will do." PA Chairman Yasser
Arafat himself held a telephone conference with Sharon, where both discussed
the prospects of peace in the region and vowed to proceed with their peace
efforts.
Sharon treated as a "hero
"Sharon's victory is an event that sheds light on many important issues in
the Middle East’s suffocating peace process, such as the readiness of the
Israeli people to seek the Sharon-style iron-fist, "seize the hilltop" kind
of solutions to the conflict. But it also once more emphasizes that the
tragic reality that Arab and Palestinian blood is still of no value in a
world that disregards abstract concepts like justice and humanity. Western
leaders' enthusiasm to indict war criminals was suddenly replaced with warm
regards and wishes for Sharon, although the man's war crime career began
fifty years ago. But more astonishing is the forgiving approach used by some
Arab governments who are willing to give a war criminal one more chance where
he would most likely perpetrate a new massacre. Achieving peace with Israel's
war-oriented leaders is an unimaginable possibility. Arabs are known to be
generous people, but being generous by giving yet another "chance" to a war
criminal (who never begged for forgiveness or asked for new chance to begin
with) is a regrettable mistake. Alternatively, all efforts must be directed
at bringing Sharon to justice, so that he may be tried for his war crimes.
This is a case where witnesses are easy to find, as Sharon's victims are
counted by the thousands, and where he proudly provides much indicting
evidence in his own writings and speeches. Let us not allow the aging
"Warrior" to get away with the blood of innocent people, the dignity of raped
women, and the continuous humiliation of an entire nation. Let us fight to
stop future massacres deemed to take place in the hand of Sharon and his
army, in the name of peace.
