Name: Ariel Sharon
Age: 73
Nationality: Hardcore Israeli
Claim to fame: The architect of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and the man responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacres

EVEN though things have been pretty grim in our own region, much media highlight has been stolen by the ill-fated happenings in the Middle East where Jewish fundamentalists, under Premier Ariel Sharon, have unleashed a reign of terror on innocent Palestinians.

Elected in February, 2001, Sharon’s main campaign slogan was, “...a strong man for a strong Israel.” However, he has proven himself otherwise by indulging in the massacre of Palestinians and invoking the wrath of the international community.

Also known as ‘The Bulldozer’, a look into his dark past and long military career explains why. On June 18 last year, a group of Palestinians brought a lawsuit in a Belgium court against Sharon for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Sept 8, 1982, in the massacre carried out in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps where thousands people were killed, tortured, raped or whisked away.

Sharon, then the Israeli defence minister, had allowed a Lebanese Christian militia allied with Israel to enter the camps and carry out the brutal act. Israel’s Kahan Commission found Sharon indirectly responsible for the massacre in 1983. Later, public pressure forced him to resign as the defence minister.

Earlier, Israel’s longstanding relations with the US also showed signs of strain in February when US Secretary of State Colin Powell used the word “siege” to describe Israel’s blockage of Palestinian cities and villages. In May 2001, the Bush administration also condemned the act of Israel’s crossing into Palestinian territory.

Ariel Sharon was also chosen as the Worst Personality of 2001 in a pan-Arab poll published by Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper, with a staggering 56pc.

After the Sept 11 attacks, Sharon stepped up his anti-Lebanon policy and immediately conducted a fresh wave of attacks on Palestinian cities and towns, claiming to uproot terrorists and members of Yasser Arafat’s elite team, Force 17, that he claimed were responsible for carrying out suicide attacks in Israel.

On March 10, Israel destroyed Arafat’s Gaza Strip headquarters, but later lifted the siege that had confined the Palestinian leader to the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinian death-toll has now crossed the 1,500 mark in the last 18 months. Under Sharon’s bidding, Israel recently launched the biggest military operation in years, and did so a mere two days before the arrival of the peace envoy from a very worried US. Having been pushed to the wall, the Palestinians continuE to show streaks of defiance. No one can predict the way ahead as long as fanatics like Ariel Sharon are allowed by the world community to run a state; any state, for that matter.