'Bulldozer' Sharon Ruthless But Courageous
Updated: 1:54pm UK, Saturday 11 January 2014
By Sam Kiley, Middle East Correspondent
In October 1953, Israeli paratroops and commandos from the Jewish State's first special forces unit, attacked the Arab village of Qibya, on the West Bank.
Some 69 villagers, many of them women and children, were killed. International condemnation followed.
But the raid did nothing to slow down the rise of the then leader of the SF - Unit 101 - Ariel Sharon.
He went on to personify all that Israel stood for - not among moderates but among those who most hated Israel, and among many who most loved it.
Many in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and beyond will celebrate the final passing of Mr Sharon.
His cunning, tactical finesse, brutality and uncompromising belief in the secular Zionist cause, meant he usually won battles and sometimes wars, against those who would annihilate Israel.
He will be mourned as one of the leading lights of Israeli statesmanship who began fighting for the nation before it existed, who shattered the Egyptians in the Sinai in 1967, and saved Israel from defeat in 1973.
But for one man Mr Sharon's death is a particular blow.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Israeli Prime Minister, will now inevitably face comparisons with Mr Sharon, and be found significantly wanting.
Mr Sharon was brave. He was ruthless. He may even have been murderous. But he also had political courage.
As prime minister of Israel from 2004-2005, he ordered the withdrawal of illegal Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.
He had been the champion of the settlements as both a Zionist enterprise and a tactical necessity.
But to advance peace with the Palestinians he turned on his own.
Some of his confidantes even believe that when he split with the Likud party to form Kadima, shortly before his stroke eight years ago, he had been planning to pull Israeli troops out of the West Bank too.
Such dramatic moves could only be contemplated by a man who had impeccable hardcore credentials among Israel's right.
He had the medals, and he had earned international opprobrium in defence of Israel.
As defence minister he brought disgrace on the Jewish State after the massacre of Palestinians by Lebanese Christians allied with Israel at the Sabra and Shatila camps in 1982.
An Israeli government investigation found him personally responsible for the atrocity.
In September 2000, he ignited the al Aqsa Intifada by provocatively exercising his 'right' to enter the al Aqsa Mosque complex in a move which sparked immediate bloodletting.
Yet after all this hard-headed belligerence, Mr Sharon recognised that Israel could not survive indefinitely in a regional sea of hatred.
His plans to end the most poisonous aspect of Israel's relationship with her Arab neighbours, the occupation of Palestinian lands, were cut short when he suffered a stroke.
His political heir, Mr Netanyahu, was an officer for a while in Sarayet Metkal, Israel's special force founded by Mr Sharon.
He has led the Likud party and been prime minister for longer than the man they called "the bulldozer".
But his critics fear he does not have Mr Sharon's military credibility, popularity, nor the political backbone or the personal dash that Israel so badly now needs.
This will be the year in which Bibi gets the chance to prove that he is Mr Sharon's political son, not his shadow.
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