If you’ve sat here in the US in recent months watching the chances for a reasonable government slip through your fingers, imagine how it must feel for reasonable Israelis slouching toward Ariel Sharon’s election. I’ve heard several American commentators wishfully invoke
“only-a-Nixon-could-go-to-China” hopes, but it appears that most Israelis aren’t electing Sharon because they believe he is the only one who can make peace with the Palestinians, despite an almost singleminded focus on the peace process in the election campaign. Instead, the election is a disappointed and embittered personal rejection of Barak for his “addiction to a diplomatic formula that by now has been
empirically proven unworkable.” The only debate among those Israelis who hope for peace seems to be whether there will be any prospects left after Sharon, who says ominously “I know the Arabs and they know me” with a General’s sneer. With this, Israel elects the author of the “Lebanese misadventure” and repudiates the man who extricated their forces from the occupation of southern Lebanon. A dismal moment for peace, especially with a Shrub in the White House in place of Clinton, with his interest in leaving a peacemaker’s legacy.