Ariel Sharon was one of “the most clear-eyed realists in Israeli politics,” said The Jerusalem Post in an editorial. Sharon, who died last week after eight years in a coma, played a key role at every major crossroads Israel faced in his adult life. As a soldier, his “bloody cross-border retaliation attacks against Palestinians” forced Israelis to grapple with moral questions about the use of violence. As a politician, he sent Jewish settlers into the Palestinian territories, but once he “realized that controlling the West Bank and Gaza jeopardized Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” he changed tactics and announced a unilateral disengagement from Gaza. He even created a new party, Kadima, when his Likud party would not support his plan. What was most important to him was not party loyalty, or keeping territory, but ensuring that Israel would survive and thrive.
That’s an overly generous interpretation of his turnabout, said Uri Elitzur inMa’ariv. In fact, Sharon withdrew from Gaza not because he thought it would be best for Israel but because he needed to distract the country from the scandals that threatened to unseat him. In early 2004, Sharon was accused of using his influence to help his son’s friend build a casino on a Greek island and then of taking money from a British businessman to finance his campaign. His response was to come up with a scheme that redrew the Israeli political landscape and “totally changed the face of the Middle East, the state of the dialogue with the Palestinians, and Israel-U.S. relations.” We may honor Sharon the soldier, but “we do not forgive Sharon the politician for the giant destruction operation he initiated and carried out for the sake of the survival of his rule.”
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