Ariel Sharon- Crimes against Humanity - Essay Example

 Ariel Sharon was an important Israeli politician who played a major role in shaping the foreign policy and military policy of Israel. Ariel Sharon also served as the Prime Minister of the Jewish state of Israel in the period 2001-2006. Before becoming active in the Israeli politics, Aerial Sharon served as an officer in the Israeli army. After serving in the army, Ariel Sharon decided to start a second career as a politician. Sharon died of a heart failure in 2014, at the age of eighty five. The West usually presents Ariel Sharon as a well meaning Israeli leader who did a lot to make peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis. He is often celebrated as one of the most important politicians that did a lot to shape the politics in the Middle East. However, the peacemaker image of Ariel Sharon is just one side of the story. Actually speaking, there is much about Ariel Sharon that makes him a controversial figure. Most of the world does know only the good things about Ariel Sharon. Yet, it is a fact that Ariel Sharon was involved in multiple crimes against humanity. Ariel Sharon was involved in many acts of gross human rights violations which lead to the killing of a number of innocent Palestinian civilians. Hence, it is a historical fact that Ariel Sharon happened to be an Israeli leader that committed multiple crimes against humanity and was directly responsible for the death of a number of Palestinian civilians. Everybody knows that in the 1948 war, Israel won almost seventy eight percent of the territory that happened to be the home to thousands of Palestinians (Tal, 2003, p. 18). Even after conquering these large tracts of the Palestinian territory, there was a section of the Israeli army that was not satisfied with this victory. There were many officers in the army of the newly found state of Israel who believed that Palestinians needed to be repressed and scared with the use of force. The purpose was to keep the Palestinians so scared that they do not dare to raise a voice against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The other objective of the Israeli army was to take over such Palestinian territories that were yet not under their control, like Gaza, and the West Bank (Tal, 2003, p. 460). Thereby the army of Israel planned an aggressive military strategy against the Palestinians that involved large scale attacks and massacre of the innocent Palestinians. Though, to the rest of the world, Israel presented itself as a victim, in reality, a significant section of the Israeli military and political class believed in being ruthless and violent towards Palestinians (Livingston, 1994). During these times, Ariel Sharon happened to be a very important officer in the Israeli army. It was under the military leadership and guidance of Ariel Sharon that the Israeli army carried out large scale attacks against the Palestinians. Many innocent Palestinians were killed in these attacks. Ariel Sharon was the person who was directly responsible for these crimes against humanity. In the 50s, Unit 101 happened to be an important Israeli special operations army unit (Ben-Rafael, 1987, p. 100). This unit was founded by Ariel Sharon, under direct orders from the then government of Israel. On the surface, the Israeli army declared that the purpose of this unit was to protect the Israeli citizens from the military attacks carried out by the Palestinians. Yet, actually speaking, one of the main objectives of the Unit 101 was to carry out massive military attacks against the Palestinians. The intended purpose of such attacks was to scare the Palestinians so much that they themselves abandoned the large tracts of the Palestinian territory. Most of the times the attacks carried out by the Unit 101 happened to be very violent and brutal (Ben-Rafael, 1987). These attacks were carried out under the direct orders of Ariel Sharon. In that context, the massacre at Qibya does need a special mention. Immediately after it was founded, the Unit 101 decided to target and attack such Palestinian villages that it suspected of helping the Palestinian fighters. The intended purpose of these attacks was not merely to target the Palestinian fighters. Unit 101 also wanted to make an example of such Palestinian villages that it suspected of helping the Palestinian guerillas. As a part of this strategy, a team belonging to Unit 101 attacked the Palestinian village of Qibya, located in the West Bank in 1953 (Khalidi, 1992, p. 192). In this attack, the Israeli army used heavy weapons like hand grenades and machine guns against innocent Palestinian villagers who were either sleeping in their homes or were trying to escape the Israeli attack. Irrespective of knowing that they were killing innocent civilians, the Israeli army carried out the attack, believed to have been ordered by their commander Ariel Sharon. It is estimated that in the Qibya massacre, nearly 70 innocent Palestinian civilians got killed (Khalidi, 1992). The person who was directly responsible for this crime against humanity was Ariel Sharon who led the Unit 101. This massacre attracted large scale criticism by the international community. Following this criticism, Israel disbanded Unit 101 in 1954 (Khalidi, 1992). However, even after this unit responsible for the Qibya massacre was disbanded, Ariel Sharon continued to play an important role in the Israeli army. Sharon was made the military governor of Gaza, after the 1967 Israeli campaign (Gazit, 2007). During those times Sharon was well known for his brutality against the Israeli civilians (Gazit, 2007). Sharon resorted to extreme torture and violence against the Palestinians who tried to resist or protest against the Israeli occupation. It is said that Ariel Sharon did not spare even those Palestinians who happened to resort to peaceful political protests. During his tenure as the military governor of Gaza, Sharon is said to have committed countless crimes against humanity, with the backing and support of the then Israeli government. These crimes lead to the killing and torture of a number of innocent Palestinian civilians. The inhumanity of Ariel Sharon was also noticed in the invasion of Lebanon by Israel in 1982 (Chuter, 2003). At that time Ariel Sharon happened to be the defense minister of Israel. It was under the direct orders and leadership of Ariel Sharon that this invasion of Israel was undertaken by the Israeli army. Sadly, this invasion was supported by the United States of America. During this long attack that lasted almost three months, the Israeli army used heavy weaponry, some of it directly supplied by the US to kill roughly twenty thousand Palestinians and Lebanese people, a majority of who happened to be civilians (Chuter, 2003). As per the Israeli army led by Ariel Sharon, the purpose of these attacks was to target the PLO fighters residing in Lebanon. However, really speaking, during these attacks, the Israeli army targeted even civilian refugee camps housing thousands of Palestinian refugees driven out from their homeland by the earlier Israeli military campaigns. The man who was responsible for the killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians and Lebanese in these attacks was Ariel Sharon. The Israeli army agreed to stop these attacks after a guarantee by the Palestinian Liberation Organization that it was to withdraw its fighters from Lebanon. However, Ariel Sharon, who was in charge of the Israeli forces, insisted that many PLO fighters were still hiding in the camps at Shatila and Sabra housing the Palestinian refugees (Chuter, 2003). Using this as an excuse, Ariel Sharon allowed the pro-Israel Lebanese militias enter the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps (Chuter, 2003, p. 76). For almost three days these Israel supported Lebanese militia carried on large scale killings, rapes and human rights violations in these camps. This all happened irrespective of the Israeli guarantee that it will not harm the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, once the PLO fighters withdraw from there. It is said that Shatila and Sabra massacre led to the killing of nearly 2000 Palestinian refugees, most of who happened to be women, children and the aged (Chuter, 2003, p. 76). There existed much evidence that proved beyond doubt that it was Sharon and the army officers under him that allowed the Lebanese militia to enter the refugee camps at Shatila and Sabra. Despite, the involvement of Ariel Sharon in countless crimes against humanity, he continued to play an important role in the Israeli politics. Many Western scholars and Israeli experts project Ariel Sharon as a leader who turned to be a peacemaker during the later part of his life. Even Ariel Sharon tried to establish himself as a man of peace by taking the decision to vacate some of the Palestinian territories when he became the prime minister of Israel. Yet, the reality is that Ariel Sharon happened to be a war criminal directly responsible for the killing, torture, murder and rape of thousands of innocent Palestinians. It is time that the history should set itself right. The world should get to know about the crimes against humanity committed by Ariel Sharon as an Israeli military and political leader. References Ben-Rafael, E. (1987). Israel-Palestine. New York: Greenwood Press. Chuter, D. (2003). War Crimes. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner. Gazit, S. (2007). Trapped Fools. London: Frank Cass. Khalidi, R. (1992). Under Siege. New York: Columbia University Press. Livingston, H. (1994). Destination Israel. Norwalk, CT: Gates & Bridges. Tal, D. (2003). War in Palestine 1948. Portland, OR: Frank Cass. Read More