Thursday, January 5

Israel's Ill

Whether he recovers or not, it's pretty certain that Sharon's political career is over. I can't remember a leader coming back to power after such a hospitalisation. It's both interesting and ironic how parallels can be drawn between Sharon and Arafat's respective illnesses and maybe indicative of how similar the two leaders actually were.

And what of middle eastern politics? Well, Sharon seems to have had a bit of a transformation in the past few months, possibly years. From quite the stubborn, unilateral and sometimes hypocritical leader he's lately earned the contempt of his own people. He's almost followed the cliched model of a leader that only grows a pair toward the end of his rule (for example, I think Bush will surprise toward the end of his term), as it becomes less important to keep power.

Having said that, overall I'd conclude that Sharon was pretty bad for the Middle East. The Gaza withdrawal which he masterminded was well overdue and smacked of an ulterior motive regarding the West Bank. It's almost a case of giving too little, too late and for certain doesn't compensate for past actions. And, for that reason, I'm eager to see who might replace Sharon. In fact, it would have been pretty interesting to see how the Israeli elections would have proceeded had Sharon not been taken ill.

2 comments:

  1. I agree. it really annoys me when people were relieved arafat died and claimed it would be a 'pathway to peace' from then on -If this guy really wanted peace, why erect the fence? what it has left is ammunition for more vengeance and long term land occupation if anything - perhaps that was the strategy? ..and was it simply to appease the west/rest of M.E with the withdrawal(give alittle and take lots) rather than pave way for any palestinian recognition? probably, imo.

    oh..btw..have you read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4584058.stm

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  2. I dunno if its worth drawing parallels here between sharon and arafat. During the time when arafat was approaching his death there were many (western leaders) that didnt even pray for his recovery, they just wanted to see him die and have another leader replace him. If the reason for this was that Arafat was a supporter of terrorism, have they (the western leaders) forgotten the crimes ordered by sharon against an innocent population of sabra and chatila. The hypocrisy stinks! What now for the political future of the middle east and the botched up plan called the roadmap. The only likely candidate to be victorious in the forthcoming israeli elections is Netanyahu who was completely against Sharons disengagament plan and if he could have it his way would want complete annexation of the occupied land (even some of that which sharon was might have willingly given back). All i see happeneing from here is a continuation of the cycle of violence. More death and more destruction !

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