The SOYMB blog shed no tears for the death of ex-prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, the 'Butcher of Beirut.
In 1953 at Qibya, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, an Israeli attack on the village, was led on the ground by Sharon. Scores of homes were destroyed while civilians were still inside. The outcome was a massacre that left 69 Palestinians dead, most of whom were women and children.The attack was internationally condemned. The US State Department at the time said those responsible "should be brought to account and that effective measures should be taken to prevent such incidents in the future". None of the officials responsible were held to account - Sharon later became a guest of honour to be feted by the USA.
In 1982 the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon which had invaded and occupied by Israel, Israeli-allied Lebanese Phalangists entered and committed large-scale killings of the Palestinian civilian population, while Israeli forces guarded the perimeter. Sharon, who was then minister of defence and exonerated the Israeli forces of any complicity or culpability. The Israeli Supreme Court, Yitzhak Kahan, found Sharon himself bore personal responsibility - as he knew full well what would happen when the decision was made to permit the Phalangists to enter into the camp. Among the recommendations of the Kahan commission report, which was accepted by the Israeli cabinet, was that Sharon should be removed from office and to never again hold a ministerial position. The Israeli prime minister at the time, Menachem Begin, refused to dismiss Sharon, and Sharon refused to resign. After continued outrage, Sharon left the defence ministry but remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
In 2000 Sharon made a very provocative visit to the Haram al-Sharif - Temple Mount - in Jerusalem, with a massive armed guard. The act was aimed at inflaming tensions and undermining his opponent Barak who was engaged in the "peace process" and it triggered Palestinian protest that would eventually become the second intifada.
Despite the recommendation that he should never hold a ministerial position again Sharon was elected as prime minister of Israel. His premiership was characterised by destruction and violations of international law. He presided over Israeli settlement expansion, illegal under international law. In addition to the construction of Israeli settlements, he oversaw the wide-scale punitive destruction of the homes of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israelis. This policy was decried by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as collective punishment: illegal under international law.
Much is made of Sharon’s propaganda coup, the unilateral withdrawal of some 5,000 settlers living among 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It was simple arithmetic for Sharon. The costs of protecting such a small number of settlers among so many Palestinians in such a small piece of territory far outweighed any benefits of being there.
The Gaza withdrawal was mistakenly characterised as a goodwill move that reflected a genuine shift in Sharon's thinking, but the reality was far from that. "The significance of our disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. It supplies the formaldehyde necessary so there is no political process with Palestinians," Dov Weisglass, Sharon's aide, said at the time. "When you freeze the process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state," he added. "Effectively, this whole package called a Palestinian state, with all it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda."
David Cameron said of Sharon “as prime minister he took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace.” Ronald Reagan was far more accurate when he described Sharon in his diary in 1982, as "the bad guy who seemingly looks forward to a war".
Sharon's legacy is a bloody one that did far more to destroy peace than to advance it. SOYMB says good riddance. Rot in your grave!
Taken from here
In 1953 at Qibya, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, an Israeli attack on the village, was led on the ground by Sharon. Scores of homes were destroyed while civilians were still inside. The outcome was a massacre that left 69 Palestinians dead, most of whom were women and children.The attack was internationally condemned. The US State Department at the time said those responsible "should be brought to account and that effective measures should be taken to prevent such incidents in the future". None of the officials responsible were held to account - Sharon later became a guest of honour to be feted by the USA.
In 1982 the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Lebanon which had invaded and occupied by Israel, Israeli-allied Lebanese Phalangists entered and committed large-scale killings of the Palestinian civilian population, while Israeli forces guarded the perimeter. Sharon, who was then minister of defence and exonerated the Israeli forces of any complicity or culpability. The Israeli Supreme Court, Yitzhak Kahan, found Sharon himself bore personal responsibility - as he knew full well what would happen when the decision was made to permit the Phalangists to enter into the camp. Among the recommendations of the Kahan commission report, which was accepted by the Israeli cabinet, was that Sharon should be removed from office and to never again hold a ministerial position. The Israeli prime minister at the time, Menachem Begin, refused to dismiss Sharon, and Sharon refused to resign. After continued outrage, Sharon left the defence ministry but remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
In 2000 Sharon made a very provocative visit to the Haram al-Sharif - Temple Mount - in Jerusalem, with a massive armed guard. The act was aimed at inflaming tensions and undermining his opponent Barak who was engaged in the "peace process" and it triggered Palestinian protest that would eventually become the second intifada.
Despite the recommendation that he should never hold a ministerial position again Sharon was elected as prime minister of Israel. His premiership was characterised by destruction and violations of international law. He presided over Israeli settlement expansion, illegal under international law. In addition to the construction of Israeli settlements, he oversaw the wide-scale punitive destruction of the homes of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israelis. This policy was decried by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as collective punishment: illegal under international law.
Much is made of Sharon’s propaganda coup, the unilateral withdrawal of some 5,000 settlers living among 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It was simple arithmetic for Sharon. The costs of protecting such a small number of settlers among so many Palestinians in such a small piece of territory far outweighed any benefits of being there.
The Gaza withdrawal was mistakenly characterised as a goodwill move that reflected a genuine shift in Sharon's thinking, but the reality was far from that. "The significance of our disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. It supplies the formaldehyde necessary so there is no political process with Palestinians," Dov Weisglass, Sharon's aide, said at the time. "When you freeze the process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state," he added. "Effectively, this whole package called a Palestinian state, with all it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda."
David Cameron said of Sharon “as prime minister he took brave and controversial decisions in pursuit of peace.” Ronald Reagan was far more accurate when he described Sharon in his diary in 1982, as "the bad guy who seemingly looks forward to a war".
Sharon's legacy is a bloody one that did far more to destroy peace than to advance it. SOYMB says good riddance. Rot in your grave!
Taken from here
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