Is Ariel Sharon capable of remorse?

By Mark L. Hage

Is Ariel Sharon capable of remorse? Can he imagine a life unencumbered by his immense appetite for violence, power and Arab land? When he was being courted by George Bush on Oct. 16 did he hear the sirens of inconsolable grief echoing down the chambers of history from a forgotten place called Qibya?

On the night of Oct. 14-15, 1953, an Israeli commando unit entered the Jordanian village of Qibya. Tragically the night before a Jewish woman and her two children had been killed by Palestinian infiltrators in the Israeli settlement of Yahud. This was the first such incident in nearly two months along the border between Jordan and Israel. The West Bank at that time was home to nearly 250,000 Arab refugees who, in 1948-49 had fled their villages in terror or had been forcibly driven out of Palestine by the armed forces of the new state of Israel and forbidden to return.

In response to the Yahud killings Jewish troops were ordered to retaliate “in the firmest possible manner.” Ten as now it was of no consequence that the targeted victims were innocent. The Israelis carried 1,300 pounds of explosives into Qibya and placed their charges against the quiet houses: 45 homes were destroyed and 69 Jordanians were slaughtered.

Major General Vagn Bennike of the U.N. wrote the following about the raid: “Bullet ridden bodies near the doorways and multiple hits in the doors of the demolished homes indicated that the inhabitants had been forced to remain inside while their homes were blown up over them.”

The Israeli officer who led the attack on Qibya was Ariel Sharon.

Forty-nine years later, almost to the day of the infamous assault on Qibya, Sharon was embraced at the White House. Never mind that most Palestinians are destitute, caged in shrinking enclaves, surrounded by Israeli tanks and highly vulnerable to attack. Never mind that Sharon’s savage way and closure policies invite horrific acts of terrorism against Israelis.

Remember this the next time our president welcomes Ariel Sharon to these shores.

Mark L. Hage

Photo credits: Photos courtesy Ben Scribner, International Solidarity Movement