Interesting perspective on Ariel Sharon on Gaza
The last time I got to see and hear Sharon in close quarters was in the first meeting of the Likud parliamentary faction after the announcement of the Oslo accords in the summer of 1993. I was in reserve duty on Mt. Eval, but my commander let me out to drive down to the Knesset. I was one of the two non-Knesset members in the room. Sharon was already then in his 60s, whereas almost the entire faction were much younger. The younger politicians generally spoke about having to fight the decision publicly and bring the public into the streets. But Sharon, who was wiser, said that none of this would happen. He spoke with passion and with tears in his eyes about how much he loved the land. I will never forget his saying to the others: "If you only knew Gaza the way that I know Gaza, with her orchards and her fisherman going out to sea at dawn." He did not speak loudly, and yet the room trembled with his pain. Sharon's later abandonment of that city and its coast to the Hamas was undertaken despite a very real and deep emotional attachment to that place such as none of the younger Likud politicians had or were able to express. He was extraodinary in the depth of his commitments and his decisions, and you could feel it in every word. I've never seen the like of it again.So why did Sharon expel all of Gaza's Jews? I told that story on this blog all the way back in July 2006. Read it here. By the way, the former IDF chief of staff quoted in that story is the current Defense Minister.
Labels: Ariel Sharon, Gaza, Oslo accords
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:35 AM
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