The world still turns the other cheek to Dr. Sharon's slaps
Rime Allaf, December 2001

Crimes against humanity have a tendency to haunt their perpetrators, even when they were committed two decades ago in an insignificant refugee camp that no one outside the region had ever heard about. Not in the least repentant, Ariel Sharon, the butcher of Sabra and Shatila, is nevertheless annoyed by reminders of his role in the infamous massacre of 1982.

Still, keeping a low profile (difficult in his current position as prime minister) is not his style. Besides, Sharon has the full support of Israeli citizens, who overwhelmingly voted “the bulldozer” into office to represent them.  Last week, he even received an honorary doctorate from Beersheva University; only 37 academics protested the event, saying that Sharon was a “man whose life includes events that should not be praised but rather condemned.”  The other 90 percent of the university’s senate voted in favor of bestowing Sharon with the award.

With so much support, we should not be surprised by his audacity in the face of not only Palestinians, but of Western governments and their representatives. While certainly not smitten, most seem to be in awe ­- or fear -­ of Sharon, and have always let him get away with murder. Literally.

Sharon enjoys adding insult to injury, sparing no one, and his associates eagerly follow suit. The past month of November has been a busy one for Sharon and his gang. There is of course the little matter of Sharon’s possible prosecution by a Belgian court for war crimes and crimes against humanity; the defendant considered that this was not a trial that concerned him, but “the whole Jewish people” (as accusing a Jew is deemed “anti-Semitism,” regardless of the crime). The decision on whether prosecution is possible will only be reached in late January, and the only consequences so far have been that Sharon wrote off Belgium from his list of countries to visit, and now reserves only choice words for the country’s officials.

Then, there was the irritating matter of the airing on Belgian television of the BBC’s June Panorama program devoted to Sabra and Shatila, aptly called “The Accused.” Practically everyone in the Israeli establishment loudly denounced the broadcast, and ­- à la Sharon -­ portrayed it as well as a war against the Jewish people.

The fact that Belgium holds the presidency of the European Union until the end of the year means nothing to Israel. The EU itself is not especially Israel’s favorite ally (at least officially), and it has time and time again been swept aside by the Israelis as a potential peace broker in the Middle East.

When the EU troika (composed of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, European Commissioner Romano Prodi and EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana) came to Israel two weeks ago, it was met with the usual Israeli defiance topped with unprecedented insolence. Setting the tone immediately, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, a staunch ally of Sharon, described the Belgian prime minister as the head of a “government of bastards.” In any other country, such a diplomatic affront would not have been tolerated. But in Israel, the EU meekly turned the other cheek.

Few European voices were heard in reaction to Israel’s impertinence or exigencies, amongst which that the EU stop funding to the Palestinian Authority, and of course that there be seven days of “absolute quiet” before proceeding with peace talks. One of the braves was Javier Solana, who had the nerve to comment on the Israeli government’s intransigence, saying that Sharon’s seven-day demand was stupidity.

The slighted Belgian prime minister, instead of recoiling from the insults he received in Israel, decided to come to Sharon’s aid with respect to a much talked-about television show on Abu Dhabi Television, where Sharon is portrayed as a blood-drinking terrorist. This (and not the insult his government received), Verhofstadt said, was a scandal.

Israel’s affronts are certainly not limited to the European Union. Even the US receives its fair share of snubs, directly or indirectly.  Secretary of State Colin Powell probably did not expect that only hours after his speech about America’s vision of a peaceful Middle East, Israeli Army bulldozers would be razing tens of Palestinian homes to the ground, in a typical middle-of-the-night operation.

Lest the US did not understand the message, Israel then announced it would construct new homes in Hebron -­ for Jews of course, not for the increasing hordes of homeless Palestinians.

In fact, in case anyone still had doubts as to Israel’s intentions, Sharon had already declared in a Nov. 7 interview with The Guardian that “we are building. We are planning now to bring another 1 million Jews to Israel.” One million Jews. Not one of the millions of dispossessed Palestinian refugees who are denied the right of return.

Apparently, Sharon still frets that the world has not understood his hints, and continues to do his utmost to pass the message. No sooner had US mediators William Burns (assistant secretary of state for near east affairs) and General Anthony Zinni (retired marine corps commander) set off for Israel that Sharon had called on his old friend General Meir Dagan to be head negotiator in the “peace” talks, or the supposed attempt to establish a cease-fire (or, for Palestinian children, a “cease-rocks.”)

Like Sharon, General Dagan’s reputation precedes him, not only for reputedly driving the first Israeli tank into Beirut in 1982. Sharon’s selection of the ex-Mossad chief to talk to the US delegation, instead of the logical Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, is naturally just another symbol of his scorn of attempts to bring about a cease-fire, and much less peace.

Whether with Peres or with Dagan, it is clear that the Israeli Cabinet is not going to allow any changes to ensue from discussions. As right-wing Israeli minister Danny Naveh put it frankly, “with all due respect to General Zinni, more important officials from the US administration have come here without obtaining anything.”

Israel knows how to work a calendar. For example, the five Palestinian children who were blown to pieces by an Israeli bomb on their way to school died well before US negotiators had arrived in Israel, and well after the EU troika had left the region. During this convenient lull, the Israeli armed forces confirmed that they had indeed planted the booby-trapped bomb a day before it exploded when one of the children kicked it. US and EU officials, safely out of orbit when this happened, did not need to comment, even less express horror.

However, the Palestinian gunmen who killed several Israelis just as the US mediators had arrived received all the attention they deserved, as did the suicide bombers a few days later. General Zinni immediately explained that “this points out the importance of gaining a cease-fire and as the prime minister said, the cease-fire is what we need so we can get onto something more comprehensive and more lasting.” As the prime minister said.

Instead of simply paying lip service to Israel as innocents die and scores become homeless in the cold of winter, it is time Europeans and Americans begin thinking for themselves and wonder why Palestinian deaths are sometimes “regrettable,” but Israeli ones always require immediate action. The real scandal is that some lives still seem more valuable than others, and that so-called honest brokers are only striving to meet one people’s demands: Israel’s.