Read Arik - The Life Of Ariel Sharon Online
Authors: David Landau
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Political, #Historical, #History, #Middle East, #Israel & Palestine, #eBook
Three people have given me their constant, unflagging support during my years of work on this book. Toby Eady, agent and friend, was critically present at the conception, when Sonny Mehta, the chairman and editor in chief of Knopf, contemplated an informed, clear-eyed look at the life of Ariel Sharon. And he has been present throughout the laborious gestation, always concerned, always cheering, always inspiring confidence.
Jackie Landau has been more than a loving, comforting, sustaining wife through this period of our lives. She has been an active collaborator on the project from the outset, a judicious editor, a stern but constructive critic, and throughout a devoted partner.
Shira Philosof was efficient and discerning as my research assistant. She was actively involved in every aspect of the work. As we progressed, slowly and—thanks to her—methodically, she became my counselor, confidante, and friend.
The unfinished product needed two brilliant editors to whip it into shape. Juliette Mitchell lopped it down to reasonable size with a briskness that belied deep and subtle sensitivity. Dan Frank, at Knopf, applied his deservedly famous skill and authority to the prose, to the arguments, and to the structure. With a light, empathetic, but rigorous touch, he elevated my efforts to an altogether higher plane of cogency and readability.
My dear friend Jerrold Kessel read the manuscript in an early and prolix form. He was dying, and he wanted to review ideas that we had often discussed together. His advice, as always, was trenchant and caring. I miss him every day. The book is dedicated to his memory.
I discussed some of the ideas at an early stage, too, with a much-admired colleague who was taken from us tragically: Peter David of
The Economist
. In his understated but incisive way, he offered astute and erudite insights.
I am hugely beholden to my colleague from
Haaretz
Yossi Verter, the foremost political commentator in Israel, as much for his forbearance and his unfailing humor as for his vast fund of knowledge and understanding.
Finally, I readily and gratefully acknowledge my debt to my friends Orith Shochat, Motti Friedman, Chemi Shalev, Charlotte Halle, Peter Hirschberg, and Jonathan Cummings for their patience, their wisdom, and their encouragement throughout this endeavor.
Many people kindly agreed to be interviewed for this book. I have added to their names a brief, noncomprehensive, identifying note. Not everything they said was on the record. Several other people spoke entirely off the record. I am very grateful to all of them for their time and their help.
Aharon Abramowitz, director general, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Reuven Adler, advertising executive, friend and adviser to Sharon
Ofir Akunis, Knesset member
Gideon Altschuler, IDF colonel
Moshe Arens, ambassador to the United States, defense minister
Uri Avneri, journalist, Knesset member
Danny Ayalon, ambassador to the United States, deputy foreign minister
Clinton Bailey, writer and researcher on the Bedouin
Ehud Barak, IDF chief of staff, prime minister, defense minister
Mitchell Barak, pollster
Yonatan Bassi, kibbutznik, head of Gaza Settlers’ Evacuation Authority
Yossi Beilin, justice minister, negotiator
Avi Benayahu, IDF spokesman
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, defense minister
Meir Ben-Meir, water commissioner
Yehuda Ben-Meir, deputy foreign minister
Eytan Bentsur, director general of the Foreign Ministry
William A. Brown, U.S. diplomat, ambassador to Israel
Odelia Carmon, spokesperson for Sharon, Netanyahu
Ilan Cohen, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office
Ran Cohen, industry and trade minister
Marit Danon, secretary to prime ministers
Sergio DellaPergola, professor, demographer
Rachel Dolev, IDF chief censor, aide to Sharon as CO of Southern Command
Dahlia Eliashiv, school classmate of Sharon
Jackie Even, IDF general
Avi Gil, director general of the Foreign Ministry
Eival Gilady, IDF planner
Ra’anan Gissin, spokesman for Sharon
Dore Gold, ambassador to the UN
Eitan Haber, journalist, aide to Yitzhak Rabin
Dudu Halevy,
Time
magazine Israel correspondent
Efraim Halevy, head of Mossad, national security adviser to Sharon
Moshe Kaplinsky, IDF general, military aide to Sharon
Yisrael Katz, transport minister
Yaakov Kedmi, diplomat to U.S.S.R., later to Russia
David Kimche, deputy head of Mossad, director general of the Foreign Ministry
Menachem Klein, professor, expert on Jerusalem
Alice Krieger, aide to Sharon as minister of agriculture
Dan Kurtzer, U.S. diplomat, ambassador to Israel
Eli Landau, aide to Sharon, mayor of Herzliya
Asher Levy, Sharon’s commander in 1948, IDF general
Meirav Levy, aide to Sharon
Samuel Winfield Lewis, U.S. diplomat, ambassador to Israel
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, IDF chief of staff, negotiator, tourism minister
Tzipi Livni, foreign minister, leader of Kadima Party
Yisrael Maimon, cabinet secretary
Amram Mitzna, IDF general, Labor Party chairman
Michal Modai, president, Women’s International Zionist Organization
Shaul Mofaz, IDF chief of staff, negotiator, defense minister
Mibi Mozer, media and libel lawyer
Yitzhak Navon, aide to Ben-Gurion, education minister, president
Ya’akov Ne’eman, finance minister, justice minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister
Moshe Nissim, finance minister, justice minister
Nimrod Novik, aide to Shimon Peres, analyst
Amir Oren, journalist
Zevulun Orlev, welfare minister
Tomer Orni, aide to Sharon as minister of infrastructures and foreign minister
Shimon Peres, defense minister, prime minister, president
Arnon Perlman, aide and spokesman to Sharon
Alon Pinkas, consul general in New York
Dalia Rabin, deputy minister of defense
Haim Ramon, health minister, justice minister
Amnon Reshef, IDF general
Reuven Rivlin, communications minister, Knesset Speaker
Gideon Sa’ar, cabinet secretary, education minister
Yehoshua Saguy, IDF general, head of Military Intelligence
Yossi Sarid, education minister
Shaya Segal, political adviser to Sharon, Netanyahu
Silvan Shalom, finance minister, foreign minister
Uri Shani, bureau chief for Sharon
Natan Sharansky, interior minister, housing minister
Asi Shariv, spokesman for Sharon, consul general in New York
Omri Sharon, Knesset member
Gilead Sher, negotiator
Lior Shilat, aide to Sharon
Azmi Shuaibi, Palestinian legislator, minister
Uri Simchoni, IDF general
Yuval Steinitz, finance minister
Avraham Tamir, IDF general
Dov Tamari, IDF general
Dov Weissglas, lawyer and bureau chief for Sharon
Moshe Ya’alon, IDF chief of staff
Avigdor Yitzhaki, director general of the Prime Minister’s Office
Aharon Zeevi-Farkas, IDF general, head of Military Intelligence
Mordechai Zippori, IDF brigadier general, communications minister
I wish I could include Ariel Sharon in this list of interviewees. I wish I’d had the journalistic good sense to spend more time talking to him during his wilderness years. But like so many Israelis, I wrote him off as yesterday’s man. I did have a number of conversations with him during his term as prime minister, in my capacity as a newspaper editor. I told him I’d been commissioned to write a book about him, that I’d set it aside for the duration of his prime ministership and of my editorship, and that I’d get back to it,
Deo volente
. He responded, as always, with courteous interest.
Omri, his son, gave me several lengthy interviews for this book. He was constantly suspicious, usually reticent, but ultimately helpful, and I am grateful.
Expressing
its continuing concern with the grave situation in the Middle East,
Emphasizing
the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security,
Emphasizing further
that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 of the Charter,
1.
Affirms
that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles:
(i) Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;
(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;
2.
Affirms further
the necessity
(i) For guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area;
(ii) For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem;
(iii) For guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every State in the area, through measures including the establishment of demilitarized zones;
3.
Requests
the Secretary-General to designate a Special Representative to proceed to the Middle East to establish and maintain contacts with the States concerned in order to promote agreement and assist efforts to achieve a peaceful and accepted settlement in accordance with the provisions and principles in this resolution;
4.
Requests
the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the progress of the efforts of the Special Representative as soon as possible.
1.
Calls upon
all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately, no later than 12 hours after the moment of the adoption of this decision, in the positions they now occupy;
2.
Calls upon
all parties concerned to start immediately after the cease-fire the implementation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts;
3.
Decides
that, immediately and concurrently with the cease-fire, negotiations start between the parties concerned under appropriate auspices aimed at establishing a just and durable peace in the Middle East.
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel, met with Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, at Camp David from September 5 to September 17, 1978, and have agreed on the following framework for peace in the Middle East. They invite other parties to the Arab-Israel conflict to adhere to it.
The search for peace in the Middle East must be guided by the following:
• The agreed basis for a peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors is United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, in all its parts … The historic initiative of President Sadat in visiting Jerusalem and the reception accorded to him by the parliament, government and people of Israel, and the reciprocal visit of Prime Minister Begin to Ismailia, the peace proposals made by both leaders, as well as the warm reception of these missions by the peoples of both countries, have created an unprecedented opportunity for peace which must not be lost if this generation and future generations are to be spared the tragedies of war…
• Peace requires respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every state in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force…
• Security is enhanced by a relationship of peace and by cooperation between nations which enjoy normal relations. In addition, under the terms of peace treaties, the parties can, on the basis of reciprocity, agree to special security arrangements such as demilitarized zones, limited armaments areas, early warning stations, the presence of international forces, liaison, agreed measures for monitoring and other arrangements that they agree are useful.
Taking these factors into account, the parties are determined to reach a just, comprehensive, and durable settlement of the Middle East conflict through the conclusion of peace treaties based on Security Council resolutions
242 and 338 in all their parts. Their purpose is to achieve peace and good neighborly relations. They recognize that for peace to endure, it must involve all those who have been most deeply affected by the conflict. They therefore agree that this framework, as appropriate, is intended by them to constitute a basis for peace not only between Egypt and Israel, but also between Israel and each of its other neighbors which is prepared to negotiate peace with Israel on this basis. With that objective in mind, they have agreed to proceed as follows:
1. Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the representatives of the Palestinian people should participate in negotiations on the resolution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects. To achieve that objective, negotiations relating to the West Bank and Gaza should proceed in three stages:
a. Egypt and Israel agree that, in order to ensure a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority, and taking into account the security concerns of all the parties, there should be transitional arrangements for the West Bank and Gaza for a period not exceeding five years. In order to provide full autonomy to the inhabitants, under these arrangements the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government. To negotiate the details of a transitional arrangement, Jordan will be invited to join the negotiations on the basis of this framework. These new arrangements should give due consideration both to the principle of self-government by the inhabitants of these territories and to the legitimate security concerns of the parties involved.
b. Egypt, Israel, and Jordan will agree on the modalities for establishing an elected self-governing authority in the West Bank and Gaza. The delegations of Egypt and Jordan may include Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza or other Palestinians as mutually agreed. The parties will negotiate an agreement which will define the powers and responsibilities of the self-governing authority to be exercised in the West Bank and Gaza. A withdrawal of Israeli armed forces will take place and there will be a redeployment of the remaining Israeli forces into specified security locations. The agreement will also include arrangements for assuring internal and external security and public order. A strong local police force will be established,
which may include Jordanian citizens. In addition, Israeli and Jordanian forces will participate in joint patrols and in the manning of control posts to assure the security of the borders.
c. When the self-governing authority (administrative council) in the West Bank and Gaza is established and inaugurated, the transitional period of five years will begin. As soon as possible, but not later than the third year after the beginning of the transitional period, negotiations will take place to determine the final status of the West Bank and Gaza and its relationship with its neighbors and to conclude a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan by the end of the transitional period. These negotiations will be conducted among Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the elected representatives of the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza … The negotiations shall be based on all the provisions and principles of UN Security Council Resolution 242. The negotiations will resolve, among other matters, the location of the boundaries and the nature of the security arrangements. The solution from the negotiations must also recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian peoples and their just requirements…