Product Description

Ariel Sharon is one of the most experienced, shrewd and frightening leaders of the new millennium. Despite being found both directly and indirectly responsible for acts considered war crimes under international law, he became Prime Minister of Israel, a political victory he won by provoking the Palestinians into a new uprising, the second intifada. From the beginning of his career Sharon was regarded as the most brutal, deceitful and unrestrained of all the Israeli generals and politicians. A man of monstrous vision, his attempts to destroy the Palestinian people have included the proposal to make Jordan the Palestinian state and the now infamous invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which resulted in the Shabra and Shatila massacres. Baruch Kimmerling's new book describes Sharon's quest to reshape the whole geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. He describes how Sharon is committed to politicide, the destruction of the Palestinian political identity, and how he has won the support of powerful elements within Israeli society and the present American administration in order to achieve this. At this time of crisis Kimmerling exposes the brutality of Sharon and his junta's "solutions" and constructs a devastating indictment of a man whose cruelty and ruthlessness have resulted in widespread and indiscriminate slaughter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #889586 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 234 pages

Review
"This timely and highly readable book by one of Israel's leading dissident intellectuals is essential for those interested in going beyond the headlines in order to understand the failure of the Palestinian-Israeli 'peace process." - Library Journal "Timely and well argued." - The Nation "Insightful, informative, and, yes, judiciously balanced." - Foreign Affairs

About the Author
Baruch Kimmerling is a distinguished Research Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto and George S. Wise Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published numerous books and articles on Israel and Palestine.

Customer Reviews

Superb study of Sharon's fascistic policies
In this extremely useful book, the Israeli historian Baruch Kimmerling shows how the Sharon government is committing politicide by destroying the Palestinian public sphere, including its leaders, schools, universities and hospitals, destroying the Palestinian private sphere by making everyday life unbearable for people, in an effort to dissolve the Palestinian people as a legitimate society, polity and economy.

Kimmerling details Sharon's record as a warrior against civilians, and his consistent use of a strategy of provocations: the 1953 massacre in Qibiya, the 1955 Gaza raid into Egypt, his forces' killing of 1,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip between 1967 and 1970, the 1982 invasion of Lebanon which killed 18,000 people, his connivance in the Sabra and Shatila massacres, and how he provoked the September 2000 Intifada.

Kimmerling describes Israel's growing fascist tendencies: he says it is becoming 'a Thatcherite and semi-fascist regime', with reduced freedom of expression, all opposition smeared as treason, the army's growing involvement in politics, one-man rule, the demonising of Palestinians and Arabs, and the destruction of Palestinian society through economic privation, violence and terror.

Menachem Begin admitted that Israel attacked Egypt in 1967, in the war that led to Israel's brutal and illegal occupations. Now, in re-occupying Palestinian territories, Israeli forces have killed 250 Palestinian children, and 72 Israeli children have been killed. Since September 2000, 2,546 Palestinians and 892 Israelis have been killed, and 23,930 Palestinians and 5,973 Israelis have been injured. 2,202 Palestinian homes have been completely destroyed, and 14,436 partially; one Israeli home has been destroyed

Sharon's strategy is failing: killing Palestinians and destroying their society is not protecting Israeli citizens from terrorist acts; Jews are safer anywhere else in the world. The only way forward for Israel is a two-state settlement, whereby the two peoples accept each other's existence, renounce violence and commit to cooperation and peaceful coexistence.

Hateful polemic masquerading as history
Where to begin with this 160-page rant? A few observations should alert you to the fantastically biased and partial writing, more suited to an SWP tract than a supposed history:
* the author feels a need to invent a new word - 'politicide' - so uniquely evil does he believe Sharon to be.
* no attempt is made to put any of the actions mentioned in any sort of historical context, such as the '48 and '67 wars, fought to destroy Israel itself.
* the author doesn't trouble himself to ask why Israelis voted Sharon in - it seems as if 'root causes' are only for Israel's enemies.
* every Israeli action is a 'provocation', every Palestinian action a 'response'.
* Verso, an extreme Left publisher, has plenty of form here in its relentless anti-Zionist publishing programme
I'm no fan of Sharon, and his policies have often been questionable from both an ethical and pragnatic viewpoint; ironically, this is the sort of book whose shrill, hysterical and hate-filled rhetoric seem guaranteed to repel all but the 'converted', dedicated Israel-haters.
This is a book whose aim is not to enlighten, question or provoke, but simply to provide a security blanket to those for whom hatred of Israel is a 24/7 sport.