Ariel Sharon has died, after almost 8 years in a coma.
He led a life that was complicated, and defined by the insatiable Arab desire to destroy Israel.
(1953 – Commando Unit 101 – Ariel Sharon Second from Left, Second Row)(source: YouTube
Sharon, among many others, didn’t let it happen, and in the course of defending Israel made some errors of judgment that are easy for historians and politicians to criticize with the benefit of hindsight.
Sharon’s crossing of the Suez canal during the 1973 War to trap the Egyptian Third Army is legendary.
(Ariel Sharon and Moshe Dayan, Sinai 1973)
(Ariel Sharon at Suez Canal 1973)(Source: http://youtu.be/QaG-s-jHiUo )
Sharon never will be treated fairly by the media. Among other things, he is blamed for the Palestinian Second Intifada by touring the Temple Mount. We now know that the Second Intifada was pre-planned by Arafat, and Sharon’s visit was exploited as a public relations ploy to justify the supposed spontaneous uprising.
Sharon also is blamed for the Lebanon invasion and the mass killing of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians; rarely is it told how the PLO had turned Lebanon into a state within a state and was raining rockets on Israel prior to the invasion.
He was willing to make peace, and pulled Jews out of Gaza, only for Israel to see Gaza turned into an Iranian missile base.
He also was willing to negotiate and compromise, but those failures were a reflection of Palestinian rejectionism.
(Mahmoud Abbas- George Bush – Ariel Sharon at Red Sea Summit in Aqaba, 2003)
Here is a pretty good biography of Sharon, covering his life, military and political careers in a fairly neutral manner:
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Comments
Sharon was a tough guy, a statesman and a patriot. May he always be remembered as such.
RIP
Sad news. The great heroes of the past who founded Israel and defended her have faded away it seems. I just pray that it is never into obscurity.
RIP Sharon.
I cannot help but compare Mandela’s funeral to Sharon’s funeral. At least this one won’t be a circus.
A warrior who fought Arabs and Egyptians but knew that peace could not be won in battle so he relinquished Gaza and the Palestinians shit in his hat. RIP.
It is probably true that peace cannot be won in battle but some enemies find death to be preferable to peace.
I worked for an Englishman once who held dual citizenship and had served in the IDF. In 1982, he told me that peace will only come when all the Palestinians are dead. He said the biggest mistake Israel ever made was allowing the West Bank to be a “refugee” camp. Looking at the way things are today, Sharon’s efforts notwithstanding, I’d say he was right on both points.
Your Israeli guy over on the sidebar was first with the news last week. Nothing like being on the ground .
Downticker – you don’t read the blog? He’s quite reliable.
Of course in an 8 year crypto state actual death is a matter of philosophy .
baruch dayan ha’emet
Regarding the starting of the Second Intifada:
That Arafat planned it should be very much a minor point in the argument. For one thing, it’s one of those “facts” that will simply be denied. The immediate response to the accusation that it was Sharon’s fault, should be that it shows the double standard of the accusers. The same people invariably blame Israeli religious and nationalist hard-liners for the lack of peace but then go on to assume it is natural that Palestinian ones must be appeased. This is particularly galling in view of Israel’s generosity over the site (of Sharon’s visit) after capturing it in 1967 and the raw antisemitism exhibited by the Jordanians who held it prior to that.
In nearly all cases, accusers of Israel are working from a basis of double standards and never get called on it.
linked to you from here
https://www.theconservativevoices.com/topic/63553-former-israeli-prime-minister-ariel-sharon-dies-at-85/