Richard H. Curtiss, Special to Arab News

WASHINGTON, 20 October 2003 — Two years ago the Israeli radio reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon became infuriated when Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned that not heeding a cease-fire would endanger Israeli interests and turn the US against Israel. Sharon shouted: “Every time we do something you tell me that Americans will do this and will do that. I want to tell you something. Don’t worry about American pressure on Israel; we, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.”

This is how Sharon works. He always moves forward, never backs down, and if necessary does something so outrageous that the previous problem is forgotten. It’s important because Sharon may again be in a pickle. He wants to take more West Bank land but the US is not backing down on the threat to reduce the American funding that he needs. Thus Sharon probably will do something so frightening that earlier cautionary statements will be forgotten.

Sharon was born to Russian parents in an Israeli settlement near Tel Aviv in 1928. He joined Israel’s underground army, the Haganah, in 1945 and fought in Jews’ war against the Arab population of Palestine. In 1953 he was given command of Special Forces Unit 101. The unit was noted for its ferocity. When six Arab shepherd boys were seized one night in what was then Jordan, one by one they were killed until only one remained. The survivor was instructed to flee and tell his village what had happened to all of his companions.

A larger detachment commanded by Sharon carried out a night raid at the West Bank village at Kibya in 1953. The soldiers forced the villagers to stay in their houses slaughtered them with hand grenades and guns — men, women and children alike. More than 69 villagers were found dead at the scene. This was allegedly done in revenge for the killing of three Israelis in Tel Aviv. The next year Sharon was made head of Israeli paratroopers. He led a series of bloody clashes against Arab forces including a provocative 1955 Gaza attack on Egyptian troops and then another attack in 1956 on Qalqilia. Sharon then was appointed chief of staff for Israel’s northern command which faces Syria. His aggressive policies so inflamed relations that Sharon was ordered to limit his operations.

In the 1967 Six Day War, Sharon became a major general at the age of 39. He established himself as a brilliant improviser. Then he was appointed to the important Southern Command which guarded Sinai and the Gaza Strip. He launched a campaign against Palestinian guerrillas which was described by Israelis as “Sharon’s reign of terror,” in which Palestinian forces were wiped out in the Gaza Strip.

Sharon was highly popular in Israel but his scheming and quarreling with his superiors left him little support among the military hierarchy. It was then that he learned that his life’s goal of being the chief-of-staff would not be realized so he resigned in the summer of 1973. He then turned to politics. As a popular hero, he eventually was decisive in the creation of the newly established Likud Party. Later that year he was called back to service in the October war of 1973.

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was caught by surprise when Egypt and Syria mounted an attack on Israel’s holiest day, Yom Kippur. The Egyptians called it “the Ramadan war” and the rest of the world called it “the October war.” For three years Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had demanded new peace negotiations but the Israelis were perfectly happy to keep as many of their conquests as possible. Sadat and Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad then struck to show that they would not let the situation remain as it was.

The two Arab leaders did not hope to reverse Israel’s conquests but they did intend to shake up Israel. Indeed they did. And Golda Meir was so surprised that she panicked and started screaming for American help. That’s another story but it nearly set off World War III. When the October war finished, the troops were in similar positions but meanwhile thousands of lives had been lost.

But it transpired that Ariel Sharon had not heeded the cease-fire. After the Egyptian soldiers stopped shooting, Sharon’s soldiers seized new positions every day. Soon they had cut off the entire Egyptian Third Army from its supply lines. Sharon then stopped shooting but he would not return his troops to the previous positions. This went on for days and, meanwhile, the weather had changed from hot to cold and troops needed cold weather supplies and the Egyptians were freezing. Sharon remained obdurate and would not allow even international Red Cross relief workers to do the most normal emergency procedures. Meanwhile the Arab League had declared an oil boycott, first reducing supplies and then halting American oil completely. It was in that period that the “oil weapon” was realized. The boycott was finally ended but ever since the oil supplies have been largely controlled by the OPEC. This astounding sequence of events had many authors but Ariel Sharon played one of the most damaging roles from the point of view of the United States.

Later when Israel’s extremist Menachem Begin was prime minister, Ariel Sharon was his minister of defense. Sharon decided to provoke a war by repeatedly rushing Israeli troops up to the Lebanese border. The Lebanese didn’t take the bait. Then there was an attempt to assassinate the Israeli ambassador to London. That was all Sharon needed to start what world journalists described as a “war waiting to happen.”

Sharon assured Begin that he would go only 40 km into Lebanon in order to seize Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) positions on the Lebanese border. But he had never had any intention to stop. Instead, he raced all the way to Beirut and surrounded Yasser Arafat’s PLO forces.

For three bloody months the PLO was besieged. Finally Arafat agreed to leave Lebanon and go to Tunisia. The United States guaranteed the safety of the PLO families after the PLO fighters departed. But, instead, Sharon broke that promise and brought in right-wing Lebanese Phalangists to kill as many Palestinians as possible.

For two days and nights the Israeli forces did not allow anyone to leave the surrounded camps at Sabra and Shatilla. As fast as the Phalangists killed the Palestinians, Israeli bulldozers covered them in a mass grave. When the international press finally broke into the two camps, an estimated 2,000 victims were dead.

Sharon eventually was blamed for the massacre by Israel’s Kahan Commission and it appeared that this bloodthirsty killer had been tamed. He made a shocking comeback after his Sept. 28, 2000 walk through the Al-Haram Al-Sharif, sparking riots that led to the 2001 elections. As a candidate Sharon was asked what he would do about Palestinians from Beit Jala shooting at the Jewish settlement of Gilo. He answered, “I would eliminate the first row of houses in Beit Jala.” And if the shooting continued? “I would eliminate the second row of houses; and so on. I know the Arabs... For them, there is nothing more important than their house. So, under me you will not see a child shot next to his father. It is better to level an entire village with bulldozers — row after row.” On Feb. 6, 2001, Israelis elected bulldozer Sharon as their prime minister. Sharon is back and his Likud Party extremists again are coming to a dead end. When Sharon is cornered you can bet that he will do something truly unthinkable. That’s what he has done every time before.

— Richard H. Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine.