To the Editor:
Zach Moore's op-ed, "A Man of Pragmatism" (Jan.12), leaves out an important part of Ariel Sharon's life. After the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War, Sharon was charged with "personal responsibility" for the massacre by the Kahan Commission, a commission established by the Israeli government to investigate the massacre. The Commission recommended the removal of Sharon as Defense Minister for his actions, and in fact, Sharon was dismissed as Defense Minister by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. For these actions, Sharon was nicknamed the "Butcher of Beirut" by his critics.
Ariel Sharon deserves an incredible amount of credit for his difficult decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. He has re-engineered Israeli politics with the creation of Kadima, and instituted a new Israeli political center. However, it is important to remember Sharon is solving the problems that he himself created. Sharon was one of the biggest supporters of settlements in the West Bank, and helped establish settlements in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It is these settlements that Sharon has recently sought to dismantle.
Now that Sharon has faced the demons of his past and sought to rectify his mistakes, the unsavory parts of his legacy have been wiped away. Sharon has much to do with the cause of these problems, and I hope he can be the one to solve them. Sharon has made great strides to improve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he must also take the blame for his past actions. We cannot forget any of history, even the gruesome parts.
