sharon a war criminal to many

Some fear post-Sharon era, some await end of a “war criminal”
1/6/2006 9:45:00 AM GMT
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Sharon faced war crimes prosecution in court in Belgium for his role in Sabra and Shatila massacres ...

Political leaders all over the world are showing great concern to the condition of the Israeli PM who began his military career at a young age, when he became involved in fighting with the Israeli Haganah, leading commando units responsible for behind-the-lines terror attacks and forcing Palestinians flee their homes.

In August 1953, Sharon founded the infamous Unit 101, which carried out a series of attacks across the Israeli borders into refugee camps, villages and Bedouin encampments.

In September 1953, he led the same unit, attacking Bedouins in Al Auja (a demilitarised145 square km area at the western Negev-Sinai frontier), killing scores of people.

In October, 1953, he led Unit 101 in an attack on Qibya village in Jordan, and ordered his soldiers to blow up buildings, fire into doorways and windows with automatic weapons and throw hand grenades, killing 69 civilians (mostly women and children).

Later on Sharon claimed that he believed that the houses weren’t inhabited. But the UN observer who inspected the scene asserted that “one story was repeated time after time: the bullet splintered door, the body sprawled across the threshold, indicating that the inhabitants had been forced by heavy fire to stay inside until their homes were blown up over them.”

In 1971 - Under the euphemistic title the “Pacification of Gaza,” Sharon imposed a brutal policy of repression, which included blowing up civilian houses, and bulldozing refugee camps, collective punishments and imprisoning hundreds of Palestinian youths. Numerous civilians were killed or unjustly imprisoned, their houses were demolished and the whole area was effectively transformed into a jail.

In 1977, The Likud party won the general election under Begin and Sharon joined Begin’s first administration as Minister of Agriculture in charge of settlements. He was one of the strongest supporters of the religious Gush Emunim movement; calling for expanding the Jewish settlements in an attempt to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In 1982, As Defense Minister Sharon masterminded the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon dubbed the “Peace for the Galilee”, killing thousands of civilians.

In June, 1982, Sharon ordered thousands of soldiers deployed on the border to fight their way up the Lebanese coast, which eventually led to the occupation of Beirut.

The soldiers carried out air and ground assaults, destroying a substantial portion of Lebanon. At least 14,000 people, mostly unarmed civilians, were killed.

August 12 became known as Black Thursday after an Israeli massive artillery barrage which lasted some 11 hours killed about 500 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians.

On September 15, 1982, Sharon gave orders for attacking Beirut, declaring that this was in order to dislodge 2000 Palestinian fighters remaining in the city, following the evacuation of PLO fighters from the region on the condition of international protection for the Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the region. Sharon assigned the task of purging the camps gave to the Phalange (Lebanese force armed by and closely allied with Israel since the 1975’s Lebanese civil war).

The 1982 massacres of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps: Sharon ordered the terror attacks on the camps at Sabra and Shatila which took place between 6:00pm on September 16 and 8:00 am on September 18, 1982.

Sharon’s troops allowed Phalange forces to enter the area. But the massacre was not just carried out by these murderous Phalangist militia trained and allied with Israel, Israeli forces were also directly involved. Israeli searchlights cleansed the camps, while army personnel watched through binoculars as the death squads spreading.

Entire families were murdered, many raped and tortured before being killed. Corpses were heaped into Lorries and taken away, or buried in mass graves. The exact toll from Sabra and Shatila massacre was never known but Palestinian sources estimate that at least 2000 people were murdered.

Ha’aretz reported on September 26, 1982: “A long-term objective aimed at the expulsion of the whole Palestinian population of Lebanon beginning with Beirut. The purpose was to create a panic to convince [sic] all the Palestinians of Lebanon that they were no longer safe in that country.”

On September 28, 2000, Sharon's incursion into Al Aqsa sanctuary accompanied by at least 1,000 Israeli military personnel triggered the outbreak of Al Aqsa Intifada.

But despite holding a grudge against Israel for its failure to fully implement past agreements, the Palestinians fear Sharon’s successor, especially if Likud wins the general elections, would bury all agreements once reached. ...

“We warn of the scenario where Sharon’s successor would seek to prove himself by boosting belligerence against our people,” a Hamas statement read.

Butcher

“We are not sorry for him — to hell with him. We in Islamic Jihad and all Palestinians have no sympathy for any Zionists,” Anwar Abu Taha, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official in Beirut, told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV station. “We do not accept he is a political leader. He is a butcher.”

In Gaza Mr. Sharon remains a hate figure from his days as army chief of the Southern Command and his 1971 policy of bulldozing Palestinian refugee camps to cleanse Palestinian fighters and subdue the local population.

“I’m so happy,” said Allah Nabil, a 23-year-old accountant from Gaza City.

“He has tricked the world, portrayed himself as a man of peace when, in reality, he was a war criminal. He has a long history of massacres here since the 1950s. This is a positive step for us.”

Bushra Saleh, 45, a teacher, said. “I hope he dies. He was very bad for the Palestinians and he made all of our lives depend on him and his decisions. This guy only knew the language of bloodshed.”

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman, said: “The whole area will be better. This guy practised his crimes and terrorist attacks and committed massacres against our people.”