"To Sharon, fighting the Arabs and staying in power is his life’s calling. But to the outside world, placing Sharon at centre stage is akin to calling on a pyromaniac to extinguish a fire."—Flore de Preneuf, Middle East correspondent, Salon News
Almost four years have elapsed since the most recent rash of hostilities erupted in Israel. Hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis have been brutally executed, numerous civilians on both sides among them.
The unrest has claimed other lives also. Just over a year ago, for example, 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American, was crushed to death by a bulldozer operated by Israeli soldiers as she attempted to block the demolition of the home of a Palestinian doctor in Rafah. When the operator refused to halt the bulldozer’s advance, she climbed the mound being pushed along in front of it. Wearing a fluorescent jacket, she defied the operator who proceeded nonetheless.
The bulldozer eventually pulled Rachel under the pile of debris. After she’d disappeared from view, the machine kept moving until it was completely on top of her. The driver then backed up-effectively running over her again.
Seven other peace activists dug Rachel out and an ambulance rushed her to Al-Najar Hospital where the Evergreen State College (Olympia, Washington) student died. Both sides in the ongoing dispute in the occupied territories have heartlessly politicized Corrie’s tragic death thereby adding another chapter to this pathetic tale of monumental refusal to embrace conciliation and peace rather than provocation and intimidation.
Fair share
Given the pro-Israeli stance many North American Christians embrace due in part to the popularity of dispensational theology on this continent, perhaps its time to point out that the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, deserves his fair share of the blame for the madness by the Mediterranean.
Sharon comes by his nickname "the bulldozer" honestly. As both a military man and a politician, he’s earned a place in history by specializing in provocation. "No matter what happens, he needs to be at the center of it," says Zeev Chafets, an Israeli columnist who has known Sharon for 30 years. "He doesn’t care so much about the shape of things. He wants to be shaping things."
In 1973, desperate to break the cease-fire agreement between Egypt and Israel, Sharon was ready to stage training manoeuvres to provoke an Egyptian reaction. The plan, which would have put his troops at great risk, was foiled by the army’s upper echelon; but, says Chafets, "he was prepared to risk lots of lives just to get a fight going."
Trace the current hostilities back to their origin and you’ll recall that in late September 2000, then cabinet minister Sharon made an ill-advised visit to the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest shrine for Muslims. He announced the trip days in advance, summoning TV cameras and hundreds of policemen clad in riot gear.
Arguable point
Whether that visit alone unleashed the hell-on-earth that has been sweeping the region ever since is arguable. Naturally, some contend the Palestinians were merely looking for a reason to quit a peace process that was going nowhere and seized Sharon’s visit as a convenient excuse to advance their political struggle.
Even Sharon himself, however, admitted the purpose of his visit was to make a bold, political statement: What Muslims call the Noble Sanctuary, the Jews revere as the Temple Mount, the site of the first and second temples of Bible times. As such, maintained Sharon, it is Jewish property and a walk there is every Jew’s God-given right. He conveniently overlooked the teaching of most rabbis that Jews should not set foot on the Mount because of its sanctity.
To be sure, Yasser Arafat and company have their own hellish agenda that exacerbates the bloodshed in the Middle East. And for that, they must take full responsibility. But next time you’re praying for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for Ariel Sharon as well. He’s not as innocent in the current strife as some would have you believe.
Given the man’s record, it’s obvious he could use a touch from the Prince of Peace.
