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Politicide: Ariel Sharon's War Against the Palestinians
Ariel Sharon was 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 Sabra and Shatila massacre.
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 won the support of powerful elements within Israeli society and the American administration in order to achieve this. 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.
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 won the support of powerful elements within Israeli society and the American administration in order to achieve this. 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.
234 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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November 5, 2023recommended by norman finkelstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE8Hk...
April 14, 2024
First thing to know: this book is primarily about what Baruch Kimmerling calls 'politicide' in the Israel-Palestine conflict and about Ariel Sharon second; this is no biography of Ariel Sharon. This is a book about politicide and how Ariel Sharon's career as a military officer and politician factored into it.
Sharon served in the military as a young man from the first Israel war in 1948, and as a general and later as the Secretary of Defense. During much of that time he largely was a hardliner on the right in Israel's poltics, in part because, in his view, the endgame for Israel should be make the Kingdom of Jordan the Palestinian state. However, as Prime Minister, he successfully recast himself as a moderate (in part, probably thanks to the rise of Netanyahu), and gave the image of disengaging from some of the territories (mainly the Gaze Strip) which Israel had long occupied, while at the same time he advanced forward settlements in the West Bank that would ultimately make the two-state solution nigh-impossible.
Kimmerling's book, which does not reach the end of Sharon's priemership (which ended after going into a coma in early 2006, a state which he remained in for eight years before dying in 2014), manages to show, quite effectively, how Sharon was so heavily involved in the 'politicide' of the Palestinians (which is to say, led the destruction the Palestinians' aspirations for statehood).
It's certainly no uplifting topic, since Kimmerling's bleak analysis of the situation as it was then and, his hints of where the conflict was headed have proven to be largely true two decades later, even with Sharon out of the picture. Its certainly a relevent book, especially amidst bloodshed now taking place there in 2023.
Sharon served in the military as a young man from the first Israel war in 1948, and as a general and later as the Secretary of Defense. During much of that time he largely was a hardliner on the right in Israel's poltics, in part because, in his view, the endgame for Israel should be make the Kingdom of Jordan the Palestinian state. However, as Prime Minister, he successfully recast himself as a moderate (in part, probably thanks to the rise of Netanyahu), and gave the image of disengaging from some of the territories (mainly the Gaze Strip) which Israel had long occupied, while at the same time he advanced forward settlements in the West Bank that would ultimately make the two-state solution nigh-impossible.
Kimmerling's book, which does not reach the end of Sharon's priemership (which ended after going into a coma in early 2006, a state which he remained in for eight years before dying in 2014), manages to show, quite effectively, how Sharon was so heavily involved in the 'politicide' of the Palestinians (which is to say, led the destruction the Palestinians' aspirations for statehood).
It's certainly no uplifting topic, since Kimmerling's bleak analysis of the situation as it was then and, his hints of where the conflict was headed have proven to be largely true two decades later, even with Sharon out of the picture. Its certainly a relevent book, especially amidst bloodshed now taking place there in 2023.
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November 4, 2023Gaza is the "largest concentration camp ever"
[Check expression "mowing the lawn"]
[Check expression "mowing the lawn"]
August 10, 2024
A little dull honestly and all over the place as well. The second half barely has anything to with Sharon and doesn’t flesh out the thesis enough. Some questionable statements like calling the Oslo Accords a victory definitely are marks against this. I got the updated version because I thought it was going to be focused more on disengagement but perhaps that was my fault the epilogue does touch on it a bit. I dislike analysis of politics through the lense of individual figures but this was fine and pretty short anyways.
November 23, 2024
No es un gran libro, aunque útil para entender nociones básicas del conflicto entre Israel y Palestina
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