The Legacy of a War Criminal

 

Ariel Sharon died on 11th January 2014 and he has been recognized, by the mainstream media, as one of the most controversial Israeli political figures, because of his military and political career. But, at a deeper sight, he can well be considered just as a war criminal.

Let briefly consider his life.

He was born in 1928 in Kfar Malal and in the 40’s joined the Zionist terrorist militia called Haganah, whose plan was to create a Jewish State in the land inhabited by Palestinians. This armed militia was in charge of pursuing raids against civilians living in Arab villages.

After the “War of Indepedence” (the question still remains: independence from who? But this is another issue), in 1948, he was personally appointed by David Ben Gurion to head the newly established 101 Unit of the Israeli armed forces, where he led massive raids against civilian and military targets in the Egyptian- occupied Gaza Strip and the Jordanian- occupied West Bank. One of those raids is unfortunately famous because it caused the massacre of 69 civilians, whose the two- thirds were children and women (1956, village of Qibya).

Then, Sharon played a key role in the offensive against the Egyptian front in the Six- Day War in 1967 and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

In the 70’s he abandoned his military career and turned to politics. He was one of the major forces in the creation of the right- wing Likud party and was a great advocate of the colonization of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, through the establishment of huge number of settlements.

When he was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the first Menachem Begin’s government, he strongly endorsed the settlements policy and during his mandate the number of settlements doubled. In order to achieve this goal, he revived an Ottoman rule regarding the “mawat land”, that is enabling the State to declare property of the State the land not worked for a number of years. Which State, given that in the early 70’s Palestine was occupied? The Israeli State of course. This has been one of the most important tools, which paved the way for land expropriation and settlement construction from the 70’s onwards.

In 1981, in the second Begin’s government, he was appointed Minister of Defence and, covering that position, he was the architect of the First Lebanese War. In 1982, he facilitated the massacre of the Palestinian refugee camp Sabra and Shatila, south of Beirut, by the Lebanese Phalangist militia. The Israeli armed forces controlled the area surrounding the camp and in the night they help the militia entering it: 3000 Palestinian refugees lost the life. The Israeli governmental Kahan Commission held Sharon personally responsible for the massacre, for not having taken the appropriate measures to prevent it. He resigned after this event, but he remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.

In 1984, Sharon lost the possibility to win the leadership of Likud and came back to his ministerial career, first as Minister of Industry and then as Minister of Housing and Construction. In the latter role, he facilitated the construction of more than 144.000 units for settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.

During the Oslo Peace process, he has been one of the strongest opponents to negotiations with Palestinians, despite the fact that they were promoted by his mentor Yitzkah Rabin. Then, when Bibi Netanyahu began Prime Minister for the first time, Sharon was nominated Minister of Foreign Affairs and, when Barak defeated Netanyahu in the 1999 general elections, he became the head of the Likud and, consequently, of the opposition.

In that role, Sharon visited the Al- Aqsa Mosque in September 2000, accompanied by 1000 security forces. This visit to one of the holiest place for Islam was perceived by Palestinians as a provocation and gave rise to widespread protests in the Occupied Territories. This visit, along with the anger and the frustration for years of occupation, violations of the Oslo agreements and for Israel’s failure to abide by its obligations toward the peace talks, gave rise to the Second Intifada.

When he became Prime Minister, in 2001, he violently and brutally suppressed the Intifada, causing thousands of deaths and casualties among Palestinians.

In addition to those actions, he was one of the main supporters of the construction of the Apartheid Wall, that separates the West Bank from Israel and that bluntly pass on Palestinian land.

In 2005, he decided to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza and to dismantle all the settlements in Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank. This event has been seen as the end of the occupation of the Gaza Strip. Given the little support he had from the Israeli society, he has been considered the most courageous Israeli politician by some and the biggest traitor by others. Some commentators said that this move was the outcome of the American pressures on Israel, because of the American criticism toward settlements.

But, did the disengagement from Gaza end the occupation? Was it motivated by legal and humanitarian concerns? Let us briefly consider what was the background and what happened in reality. First, settlements are illegal under international law (article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention). Second, the Gaza Strip is surrounded by a wall, built in 1989, that passes in the territory of the Gaza Strip and it is patrolled by Israeli soldiers. Moreover, despite the disengagement plan, Israel retains control of the Strip by air, sea and borders, it can ensure public order and it can enter the Strip whenever it wants. Furthermore, after the withdrawal, Israel created inside the wall (thus, in the Gaza territory) a “Israeli Security Zone”, controlled by Israeli soldiers. If, as it is argued by the most prominent legal scholars, occupation requires “boots on the ground”, that is physical presence of an army on a foreign territory, then the logic consequence is that the Gaza Strip is still occupied. And, be it as it may, some international organizations, such as the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have stated that a territory can be considered occupied even when it is controlled by distance and that the blockade of the Strip can easily be identified as an occupation.

So, why Sharon disengaged from Gaza? Smart political considerations led him to disengage from the Strip. Indeed, in 2005, an “insignificant” small number of settlers lived in Gaza (7,000 against more than 200.000 in the West Bank). Secondly, he perceived the tensions between the two opposite Palestinian factions: Fatah and Hamas. Since Oslo, in fact, Fatah was seen as a small corrupted élite that had betrayed all the Palestinian aspirations for statehood, refugees return, land ownership, etc. By withdrawing from Gaza and dismantling the settlements, Sharon put in place a sophisticated system of control of the population of the Strip, transforming it in an open air prison. This situation negatively affected the Palestinian population living there, that began thinking to a political alternative to Fatah. It saw an interlocutor in Hamas. Thus, in the 2007 general elections, Hamas ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip, establishing there its own government, thus politically dividing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This political division led to a sharp fight between the two factions. The situation could be easily defined a sort of civil war (in these latest months, Fatah and Hamas have again started talks, to find an agreement and to form a unity government).

Evidently, Sharon learnt the lesson of the Roman Emperor Caesar: DIVIDE ET IMPERA. Israel has been the only to benefit from this split.

Resuming, Sharon was responsible of crimes of war and against humanity, making himself responsible for massacres of civilians, promoting settlements, building the Apartheid wall, imposing a blockade in the Strip and controlling it with soldiers and drones.

I don’t celebrate his death, but for sure I regret the failures of the international community and the international criminal tribunals.

And, while Israelis are remembering him and paying tribute to him as one of the most prominent Israeli leaders and courageous commanders, Palestinians will remember him for the sufferings he caused to them.

 

 

Sources for biography:

Dimi Reider, Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies at 85, 11 January 2014, +972mag.com

Alex Shams, Ariel Sharon dead at 85, 11 January 2014, maannews.net

Larry Derfner, When Sharon was great, 11 January 2014, +972mag.com

Lisa Goldman, Ariel Sharon and my political education, 12/01/2014, +972mag.com

Gideon Lévy, Sharon ou la doctrine “seulement par la force”, 12 January 2014, courrierinternational.com

Lahav Harkov, Politicians from right, left and center pay tribute to military hero and statesman, 12 January 2014, jpost.com