In the Wake of Ariel Sharon's Death, A Fake Quotation Attributed to Him Makes the Rounds Again

I found this, er, happy talk on the UK Google News page, right under the lead story about Sharon:

Alhamdulillah! the butcher of Israel "Ariel Sharon" who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Palestinian Muslims is dead after being in comma for 8 years.

Sharon was interviewed by a general named Ouze Merham about his service in the 1956 Suez Crisis, and said the following:

“I don’t know something called International Principles. I vow that I’ll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous th...an the man, because the Palestinian child’s existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I’ve killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian women is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do.”

In case you're wondering what "Alhamdulihah" means, here's the definition.

I could be wrong, but all that talk about raping and enslaving does not sound like something a Jew would say. It does, however, sound like something a Muslim who wanted to blacken the name of a hated Jew might create for that purpose. And, indeed, according to an '04 CAMERA exposé, the a-rapin'-and-a-burin' words attributed to Sharon are a blatant fabrication:

FABRICATED

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian woman and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child's existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian woman is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do.

Source given: Ariel Sharon in an interview with General Ouze Merham in 1956  

Investigation: This quote was found on hundreds of Arab Web sites, and indeed, seems to be a a staple of anti-Israel propaganda. It cannot be found, however, in any text book, news article, or published record, nor is there any mention or record of a General Ouze Merham anywhere else. (Another giveaway is that the term “Palestinian” was not in use in 1956. It only came into vogue in the 1960's.)  

Student columnist Mariam Sobh used the quote in her December 11, 2003 Daily Illinicolumn, but later had to apologize.  

Summary: Fabricated quote, fabricated source.

Fabricated "Oooze." Fabricated calumny. Case closed.

Update: The "butcher of Israel" opiner has been given the same prominent placing on the U.S. and Canada Google News pages too.