Why did Israel elect Ariel Sharon and what does this tell us about the Zionist state and its intentions? These are the key questions to be asked after the Israeli election.

The British press has expressed shock and confusion at the election result. According to the Independent the result was 'a disaster almost as unmitigated as disasters come'. Troubled by Sharon's massive vote, the newspaper could merely hope that his reign would be brief. For the Guardian his victory was a puzzle: how had 'this disreputable man', an arch-enemy of peace, become Israel's 'democratic choice'? The newspaper blamed former prime minister Barak, Yasser Arafat, and the failed Oslo peace talks. It could not, however, confront the key issue--that almost two thirds of the vote had gone to a man openly identified with discrimination and extreme violence. Even Palestinian writer Edward Said has commented on what appears to be a conundrum--it is 'stunningly odd', he says, that Israelis have turned to 'the unregenerate old killer of Palestinians--a man who will bring them more rather than less violence'. But it is not so odd--the Zionist movement has been here many times before.

To provide an explanation it is necessary to confront the central principle of Zionism--that it is an ethnic nationalism, a racist ideology which established a state based upon exclusion of non-Jews. Within this state all manner of narrow prejudicial ideas have festered, creating conditions under which aggressive racists such as Sharon continue to rise to prominence.

The Zionist movement is not unique. During the colonial era many settler states were established by Europeans who seized land and other vital resources. In one respect, however, Zionism is different, for its leaders campaigned to remove the entire local population. In 1948 they succeeded in expelling a million people--Arabs were out, Jews were in. Israel was constructed upon differentiation by 'race'.

Sharon stands in the tradition of Zionist leaders who were the most enthusiastic ethnic cleansers. His Likud coalition was formed in 1973 by Menachem Begin, who in the 1940s had been a leading figure in the Revisionist movement. The Revisionists' leader was Zev Jabotinsky, who argued that Palestinians were significant only as enemies who should be treated without pity. He loathed Arab culture: 'Mine is a westerner's mentality,' he said. 'The east is entirely foreign to me.' He described the population of the region as 'a mob--a sort of permanent row of a yelling rabble, dressed up in savage-painted rugs'.

For Jabotinsky, Arabs were a 'primitive', 'arrogant' race. Jewish attempts at conciliation with them were 'contemptible and repellent'. The main task of the settler community, he argued, was to create an 'iron wall'--to confront Arabs with the reality of a Jewish majority and Jewish power. He organised paramilitary groups complete with the uniforms and rituals of the European right. For his enemies within the Zionist movement he was a fascist. The Revisionists gave birth to a number of armed groups which specialised in attacks on Palestinians. One of these--Irgun Zvai Leumi--was commanded by Begin. In 1948 Irgun perpetrated the Deir Yassin massacre, killing 254 Arab villagers.

When Begin became prime minister in 1977 he chose Sharon to control Israel's armed forces. In 1982 Begin ordered the invasion of Lebanon, confiding to the Israeli cabinet that his aim was to 'transfer' the Palestinians of Lebanon. Sharon adopted a simpler strategy--in the refugee camps of Beirut he sanctioned mass murder. Today Sharon's allies include parties which keep alive the most aggressive racist element in Zionist ideology. Revahem Zeevi of the National Union advocates a new 'transfer'--ethnic cleansing--of the Palestinians, whom Ovadia Yosef, leader of the ultra-orthodox religious party Shas, describes as 'venomous snakes'. Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Russian immigrants' party Yisrael Beitanu, calls for destruction of Palestinian villages in which inhabitants resist Israeli forces. During the election campaign he predicted a war with Arab states in which Israel would launch missiles at Tehran and would attack the Aswan Dam in Egypt--an initiative that would threaten the lives of 60 million people.

Why did Israeli Jews vote for such a bunch? One answer is that Sharon and his allies are not 'renegades' but represent a political current that has widespread legitimacy, having provided three prime ministers before Sharon: Begin, Shamir and Netanyahu. A second reason is increased Israeli intolerance of Palestinian resistance. The intifada which began in October 2000 has infuriated many Israelis, especially because for the first time it involved Palestinians living within the 'Green Line'--the borders of Israel drawn in 1948.

The election of Sharon reminds Egyptians how some of their rulers have dealt with Israel. In 1979 Egyptian president Sadat travelled to Jerusalem to embrace Begin, in full knowledge of his murderous record, and to 'normalise' relations. The current president, Mubarak, has already said he is ready to do business with the new prime minister, while the Egyptian foreign minister insists that Sharon may adopt 'new policies' and 'build on understandings'. Everything about Sharon's blood-soaked career says otherwise. He is a provocateur who has learned from his predecessors on the right how to precipitate new conflicts. In 1929 Jabotinsky sparked riots and mass killing by leading a demonstration to the Wailing Wall. In September last year Sharon employed the same technique--four months and 500 deaths later he was prime minister.

Sharon and his supporters will generalise violence across the Middle East. Continued attacks on Palestinians, and continued resistance, are likely to bring renewed protest across the Arab world. Even regimes such as that in Egypt will come under pressure to take a stand. The most popular slogan on the streets of Cairo in October contained an ominous warning for the Mubarak regime and for the mass of Israelis: 'Where is the army? We want war.'

A case of deadly double standards

The hideous history of Sharon, by Clare Fermont

Ariel Sharon: war criminal

War criminals, we are told, will no longer escape justice. Those responsible for war crimes will be hunted down, brought before an international criminal court and made to pay for their evil deeds. The proof of this are the two top names on the wanted list--Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein. Yet there is a name missing--Ariel Sharon. He was responsible for the single largest massacre of unarmed Palestinians--in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps in 1982. His mere presence at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jersusalem last September provoked the current intifada.

Sharon is a war criminal. Yet when he was elected prime minister of Israel Tony Blair rang to congratulate him and President Bush lost no time in telling Sharon that US support for Israel was as solid as ever. Surely these aren't the same political leaders who were so disgusted by human rights violations ordered by Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein that they backed 'humanitarian wars' to get rid of these criminals?

Ariel Sharon's war crimes are well documented. This is the man who got the taste of Arab blood during the 1948-49 Arab-Israel war, when massacres of villagers terrorised 750,000 Palestinians into flight. In the 1950s he led punitive military operations against refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. In 1953 his militia slaughtered 50 Palestinians in a single raid on the El-Bureij refugee camp. The same year Sharon led another murderous raid on the Palestinian village of Qibya. His troops stormed into the village, shooting at random. Buildings and homes were blown up and 69 Palestinians were killed.

Sharon was rewarded for his brutality, rising to brigadier general in the army. He commanded a division during the Six Day War in June 1967, during which Israel captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Elected to parliament in 1977 as a Likud member, Sharon became defence minister in 1981. His contempt for Palestinians was highlighted when he called on soldiers to beat Arab school children involved in protests and to cut off the testicles of demonstrators.

In 1982 he launched the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Twenty thousand people were killed as Sharon sent the Israeli army all the way to Beirut without even the permission of his own government. Among the victims were around 2,000 men, women and children in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps, who were butchered by Israel's allies, the Phalange, a fascist Christian Lebanese militia that was effectively under Sharon's control. Even Israel's tame investigation into the massacre found Sharon 'personally' (although indirectly) responsible for the slaughter and deemed him unfit to remain in government.

The history of Israel and Sharon exposes once again the charade of 'international law' and 'international justice'. When an ally of the west (Kuwait) is invaded by a hostile neighbour (Iraq), the invaders are bombed out of the occupied territory and destroyed economically through sanctions. When an ally of the west (Israel) invades its neighbours, the invader is rewarded with vast amounts of military and economic aid. Similarly, war criminals who challenge western interests are indicted. War criminals who serve western interests are courted--regardless of how many people they have murdered.

Fatmeh is a 29 year old Palestinian refugee from the Sabra and Shatilla camps in South Beirut.

'I was born in 1972 in Shatilla refugee camp, Beirut, where I lived with my parents and two brothers. When the Israeli solders came to Beirut, with Sharon and Hobeika (leader of the Christian militia), they came to Shatilla. They lit the camps with flares, and a short while later we heard somebody screaming, 'Help us! Help us!' A woman we knew was running shouting. 'There's a massacre. Run away,' but my father did not believe her. She pleaded with him. 'There is a massacre and your cousin has been killed. You have to leave the camp. If you don't leave the camp they'll come and kill you.'

People went to investigate, but many did not return. Others came back bleeding, and told us they were killing everyone and we should get out, but my father still insisted we stay at home. I came back into the camp and saw people running, I asked them, 'What's happening?' and they started shouting out the names of the people who had been killed.

I was scared. When I got to the courtyard near my house I saw a militiaman carrying a big knife dripping with blood. I hid and he did not see me. Then I ran home shaking with fear. My father and brothers were worried that if they tried to leave the camp they would be caught by the Israelis but we had no choice.

We split up. My mother and I escaped to the Gaza Hospital. The staff told us to leave because they feared the militia was coming and would kill us. The staff and patients at the hospital were not spared. Eventually we found shelter in a friend's home.

My mother returned to Shatilla to find that our father and brothers had survived, but had been seized by the Israelis and were being held in Yarze (Beirut's main prison). We returned to Shatilla after seven days. I tried to find my cousin, and see where the people were killed. When I entered his house I found the floors and walls were covered with blood, then I looked up and saw my cousin's scalp had been nailed to the wall. I have never returned to that part of the camp. I can't, it makes me sad.

All the people in the world know that Sharon is a war criminal, but there is no difference between Sharon and other Israeli leaders--he kills us, they all kill us. Barak has also killed many Palestinians and many of our leaders.

We want the intifada to continue because we have no other choice. The intifada is our only chance. The intifada will bring down Sharon. After six months we will bring down Sharon. We will win. We have no choice. One day we will go back. When I don't know, but we will return.