Is Sharon a patriot or a murderer?

Saree Makdisi objects to calling Ariel Sharon a “man of courage and peace” (Opinion, Jan. 7).

Ariel Sharon is a fierce Israeli patriot who served his country with distinction for more than 60 years.

He understood that if Israel wanted to be a Jewish and democratic state, it must separate itself from the Palestinians, so he accepted the two-state solution.

He took the first positive step by withdrawing Israeli settlers from Gaza. That is why the world considers Sharon a “man of courage and peace,” even if Makdisi does not like that.

JACOB AMIR

Jerusalem

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It suddenly occurred to me how desperately the Palestinians have needed a man like Sharon as a leader; someone with real military experience, someone who dared to face his enemies at their strongest points, and someone whose word was never questioned even by his greatest enemies.

Sharon has often done the wrong thing as a political leader, but he’s 10 times more of a leader and a man than anyone who’s pretended to be a Palestinian leader for the last 100 years. Sharon was never a liar and never a coward; Palestinian leaders are usually both.

JAKE NOVAK

New York

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At a time when Sharon is being lionized as a man of peace, it is important that Americans not be fooled into believing the propaganda that Sharon was ever interested in anything other than subjugating and murdering Palestinians, stealing and colonizing their land, and removing any possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

Sharon’s much-ballyhooed unilateral disengagement from Gaza was merely a political ploy to divert attention from Israel’s illegal activities inside the West Bank. Removing a few thousand illegal Jewish settlers from Gaza made it easier for Israel to increase attacks on Gaza residents, including its recent campaign of creating sonic booms every night to terrorize innocents. Gaza is not free, and Sharon is not a “man of peace.” Sharon is a mass murderer.

MARY HUGHES-THOMPSON

Beverly Hills

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Makdisi’s Op-Ed article was refreshingly candid and to the point. It was encouraging to see a major newspaper favor the truth, however ugly and unwanted, over more popular fabrications.

AVERY F. GORDON

Santa Barbara

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I’m no fan of Sharon, but when Makdisi likens his attempt at peace with the Palestinians as “bludgeoning them into a subhuman irrelevance,” it’s laughable. The Arab world’s commitment to the destruction of Israel is subhuman. When the Arab world waged war against Israel and lost, the stage was set for a man like Sharon. Who else would gain the fear and respect of other warriors, brutes and murderers?

LINDA FELDMAN

Playa del Rey