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 he embodied.  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 were that 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"--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."

Hated, fierce, radical, peacemaker.  Get well soon.

Donald Meissner

Editor, Grateful Right