There was a profound moral error as well as a serious political misjudgement behind Ariel Sharon’s approach to the Palestinian issue. The mistake is encapsulated in the New Year address Pope Francis gave to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, when he told them “every denial of human dignity is a threat to peace”. He was not talking specifically about the Arab-Israeli conflict, but the relevance of his words in that context is plain to see.Ariel Sharon’s legacy is an ambiguous one. As perhaps the most controversial political leader in Israel’s short history, he became the Prime Minister who forced the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from Gaza. This breached an unwritten convention that had bound all previous Israeli governments: that settlers should be accommo