Sharon is struggling for survival. In fact he is not what he is trying to present to the world; he is not Israel’s best prime minister but its worst. This is because the number of Israelis killed since he took office surpasses all previous numbers.
The old days are over for Sharon when he was called “king” by Israeli right-wingers because they saw him as a lifeline to Israel’s continuous nightmares. It should be noted that Sharon managed to defeat the former government of Ehud Barak on the grounds that it had failed to protect Israel. Therefore, Sharon’s major promises to the Israeli masses that he is determined to subdue the Palestinians through his savage policy of violence, suppression and killings.
The status quo tells us that after a year in office, Sharon is defeated and humiliated in the eyes of those who elected him because his bloody policies have led to more blood and more retaliatory actions by the Palestinians. Sharon, moreover, has proved that he should not be trusted as a leader for a nation that is sick of war with its neighbors. He is a professional killer who will bring further torture, instability and insecurity to Israel and its people.
In addition, the Saudi peace initiative has cornered Sharon and forced him to reveal his ugly face by rejecting all endeavors aimed at peace. Not only that, but he went on record as saying that the Saudi initiative was a conspiracy to destroy Israel. Thus does the butcher of Israel look at efforts toward peace. He went even further and said that he could not imagine that Israel would agree to withdraw to its pre-1967 borders because the move was counter to Israel’s expansionist policies. What have been the results of Sharon’s policies? He failed to stay in the Palestinian territories; he mixed in more defeats, intense street-to-street fighting, bloodshed and incredible causalities. Furthermore, Israelis of all levels became certain that force would never lead to peace and that Israel’s military arsenal would not bring stability.
Sharon’s savage policy led to a real war between a well-equipped army and unarmed civilians. The latter were slain before the world community, the UN and the US.
Sharon’s atrocities are evident and for them, he should be handcuffed and sent to an international tribunal for trial as a war criminal. No difference should be made between him and the butcher of Belgrade. In fact, among the Israelis themselves, there are those who believe that Sharon is a war criminal and should be indicted and tried. I can remember a massive Israeli demonstration two decades ago at the time of the invasion of Lebanon when Sharon was defense minister. The demonstrators shouted anti-war slogans and asked that Sharon be tried as a war criminal.
What Sharon is doing nowadays is not to Israel’s benefit but he is keen to save his face, stained with the blood of innocents. He has not learned from the past. He failed to assassinate the Palestinian leaders in Lebanon, and is trying to correct that mistake in Ramallah. He failed to win the race when he committed the massacres of Sabra and Shatilla and now is repeating the same by massacring more Palestinians.
It is imperative that we should try this criminal. We have to gather all the evidence and indict him. We have to use every resource to ensure that this butcher reaches the hands of justice and receives the punishment he deserves. Sharon s trying to convince the Israelis that they are victims of Palestinian retaliations but the Israelis have in fact begun to realize that they are the victims of Sharon’s barbaric measures and policies.
