Ariel Sharon officially relinquished the post of Defense Minister yesterday but it is too early to tell whether he will emerge weaker or stronger from this latest crisis in his flamboyant and fiercely controversial career.
Judging from demonstrations in his favor while the Cabinet deliberated his fate last week after the commission of inquiry into the Beirut refugee camps massacre recommended his resignation or dismissal, Sharon’s supporters among rank-and-file Israelis are legion. But public opinion polls have shown repeatedly that not too many people are sorry to see him go.
When Sharon first ran for political office on his own, the independent Shlom Zion ticket in the 1977 Knesset elections, his faction won only two seats. But that result is no measure of his political power today which resides within the governing Likud coalition.
Sharon’s close supporters are intensely loyal. His press advisor, Uri Dan, expressed confidence Sunday that the departing Defense Minister eventually will achieve the highest office. “Those who refused to see Arik (Sharon’s nickname) as Chief of Staff, had to him become Defense Minister. Those who refused to see him as Minister of Defense will have to accept him as Premier,” Dan said.
TALENT FOR CREATING ENEMIES
But Sharon seems to have a talent for creating enemies. His uncompromising language and his self-righteous defense of the conduct for which he was condemned by the inquiry commission — “They are spilling my blood,” he has proclaimed repeatedly in recent days — have been deplored by mary. He has succeeded in alienating former army comrades. Few if any of his opponents have been converted to supporters.
Among his aides and subordinates, few have managed to work with him for very long. Some of his closest advisors have left, disenchanted. But within the army where the hierarchy is clear and unequivocal, Sharon still commands considerable support.
Even his critics conceded that he is a man of action, an author of events. The trouble, they say, is that he does the wrong things. The highlights of his 19-month tenure as Defense Minister were the war in Lebanon and his unrelenting campaign of massive Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
Sharon is a career soldier. At the age of 20, in Israel’s War of Independence, he was wounded in the battle for Latrun. While he was hospitalized he abandoned the idea of becoming a farmer and was determined to return to the battlefield.
CONVINCED HE WAS WRONGED BY INQUIRY PANEL
Right now, he is determined to remain in the Cabinet although a majority of his fellow ministers–it has been reported — would like to see him out.
Sharon is honestly convinced that he has been wronged by the inquiry commission and intends to fight its findings. He disagreed vehemently with its conclusions that Israel was indirectly responsible for the massacre and that he was personally culpable for not making an effort to avoid it. Until now Sharon has won all of his personal battles. He has known a few setbacks but was always triumphant in the end. One of the few heroes to emerge from the Yom Kippur War, he expected to be appointed Chief of Staff. When that post was denied him, he entered the political arena.
ROLE AS A PRIME MOVER
He was the prime mover behind the alliance between the Liberal Party and Herut which produced first the Gahal faction and later Likud. He joined Premier Menachem Begin’s first government as Minister of Agriculture. But he soon became a key member of the coalition, getting himself appointed chairman of the Ministerial Settlement Committee from which he pushed for massive Jewish settlement in the territories.
When Defense Minister Ezer Weizman resigned in 1981, Begin’s reluctance to name Sharon his successor was a bitter pill. But the general swallowed it quietly.
After Begin’s re-election in June, 1981, with a reduced Knesset margin, Sharon presented him with a virtual ultimatum and was named Minister of Defense.
THE WAR IN LEBANON
The war in Lebanon last summer was the result of his own long preparation. He was determined from the outset not only to destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization but to change the political infrastructure of Lebanon.
During the war, he was accused of presenting the Cabinet with faints accomplish, but so far as is known, none of his fellow ministers rebelled. Nevertheless, as the Israel army pushed deeper into Lebanon, dissatisfaction within the government and in the army grew.
When Sharon ordered the siege of west Beirut — round-the-clock heavy bombardment of the city from land, sea and air–one young officer, Col. Eli Geva, publicly expressed the anger and misgivings felt by some members of the officers corps and within the ranks. Geva asked to be relieved of his divisional command which had been slated to enter the city. He was relieved and subsequently discharged from the army.
After the massacres in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps, a number of senior officers threatened to follow Geva’s example unless an investigation was ordered. Both Sharon and Begin bitterly opposed a judicial inquiry but backed down under severe public pressure and the commission was appointed.
The commission’s report forced his resignation as Defense Minister. But Sharon salvaged his political career. He will remain in the Cabinet. As he told Defense Ministry staff at his ceremonial departure yesterday: “In this establishment one does not always know who comes and who goes.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
