The Israeli Who Stirs the Pot
By BENNY MORRIS
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| ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME BY ETIENNE DELESSERT |
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Ariel Sharon has a way of surprising even his staunchest adversaries. When he
met Anwar Sadat during the Egyptian President's path-breaking visit to
Jerusalem in 1977, Sadat wagged a finger at him and told him that the next time
he crossed the Suez Canal without permission, he would be arrested. They both
laughed. Sadat was referring to the offensive, led by then General Sharon, that
marked the turning point in the 1973 October War—an Israeli victory that paved
the way to Egyptian-Israeli peace.
Once again Sharon, 77, is on the move, and once again history is watching. The
Israeli Prime Minister has stirred the pot by pledging to withdraw troops and
settlements from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank. To be sure, many
Arabs—and Israelis—doubt Sharon's sincerity. As a young brigade commander, he
bamboozled Chief of Staff Moshe Dayan by sending paratroops into battle in the
Sinai's Mitla Pass in 1956. And as a Cabinet minister during the 1980s and
'90s, he established and expanded settlements in the occupied territories in
the face of opposition at home and abroad. Yet Sharon seems serious about
disengagement. If it leads to a general rollback from the Palestinian
territories, Sharon may one day be remembered alongside Charles de Gaulle, who
came to power committed to holding on to Algeria but swiftly moved to rid
France of its colonial burden.
Morris is the author of The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited
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FROM THE ARCHIVE
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