For those of us who wake up every morning asking how Israel is doing, it is clearly a pretty grey, not to say dark, season. Large cumulous clouds of shallowness, ideological confusion and senseless maneuvering are hanging low over our heads.
Three years after being elected prime minister, Ariel Sharon is clearly a failure. From the day he took power from Ehud Barak (in February, 2001) until now, Sharon proceeded to lose all the strategic assets he had.
Ten years after the outrageous signing of the Oslo Agreements, Eight years after arming Yasser Arafat's Tanzim force, three-and-a-half years after the start of the Oslo War, Israel is more confused than ever, internationally weaker than ever, and is being stir-fried globally on almost every move she makes.
From the immoral decision not to rid ourselves of Arafat and his regime, the acceptance of the Road Map and the construction of the embarrassing fence (I am vociferously against this fence!), to talking of unilateral withdrawals, the road was very short.
Sharon, shockingly, is promoting the Barak-Mizna-Beilin plan today without blinking an eye. He will do it, he will not do it, no one really knows. But we are witnessing a phenomenon of a total ideological collapse, confusion and a style of maneuvering that is severely damaging the vital interests of the nation.
Ariel (Arik) Sharon must be thrown out of power as early as possible. In the past three-six months in particular, his performance and maneuvering has become a threat to Israel's well-being. Plain and simple.
The government of Israel is now making a chain of critical mistakes that will be painful and costly to undo in years to come. A few of these are:
1. Allowing Arafat to freely manage terrorism, as well as to control Palestinian diplomacy. This is literally a disgrace. People die all the time directly as a result of this hoax. No serious progress with the Palestinians will ever be possible as long as that man is around.
2. The continuous Israeli embrace of the "Road Map" as the only valid diplomatic platform. Israel agreed to a package of concessions in the midst of a war. The other side accepted Israel's intentions to make these concessions, while not dropping even one of its cynical claims, and continuing to use terror as a strategic tool. Kol hakavod, Arik!
3. The repeated references Sharon makes to "Bush's vision", and the general style of working with the US Administration, shows lack of basic understanding and vision for U.S?Israel relations. Sharon is turning Israel into a puppet government of the State Department. His adopting of an "always say 'yes'" strategy in his work relationship with the US administration will make the first time to he has to say "no" into a major crisis in US?Israel relations. It seems like Israel no longer tries to coordinate anything with the US administration; we simply say "yes" to anything they want.
4. The building of the fence is a mistake. It is counter-productive to the efforts to live with the Palestinians in peace in the future. It damages severely the majority of the Jewish communities in Samaria because it is weakening Israel's historic claim to the land. It is a fence of hate, born in a war of terror; it is an ugly scar on the body, the hills, of our beautiful Israel. No one will ever accept its path, and it will not even deliver the main benefit for which it was built - security. Israelis will continue to suffer Palestinian terrorism, but simply other forms of it. Perhaps worse forms, like Kassam rockets from Samaria, which were already found there in recent weeks.
5. Worst of all, the explicit talk in the past three-six months of destroying Israeli villages and settlements, relocation and transfer of thousands of Israelis from their homes, in a unilateral pullout of whole regions. This is the worst form of decision-making, and the most illegitimate ideological platform that Sharon and his government have introduced to date.
Summing up, it is clear that Sharon and his senior ministers must be removed from office. Many people ask, "But who do you have instead of him?" This is an irrelevant question. If the leadership, and its ideas for running the nation, has become so empty, so shallow and so damaging, you must get rid of the problem ? no questions asked. Sometimes the immediate, definite damage is worse than the unknown.
The leadership of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the right-wing Knesset Members and ministers, and inevitably, the rest of the right-wing camp in Israel, must make a statement now and impeach Sharon. It will not only stop a severe downhill slide in the way things have been done recently, but it will also leave an important legacy, a standard, to those who will come after Sharon. May any future right-wing prime minister know - the settlements are the red line.
In the coming five years or so, in the post-Sharon era, we will need to form a "new right" in Israel. A new national agenda for our nation, which is relevant and coherent. A new approach to peace with our Palestinian neighbors, which is fresh and different than all the packages of lies that all the political parties are now trying to offer us. Sharon will not bring peace with his tactics. Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres already brought a war down on us. And the dear rabbi, Benny Elon, et al, will continue to offer poetry (transferring three million Arabs from their homes), not a valid or relevant solution.
The future generation of Israel's leadership - those of us who want a good life not only for our children, but for ourselves, as well - will have to fill this vacuum. And we shall!
Three years after being elected prime minister, Ariel Sharon is clearly a failure. From the day he took power from Ehud Barak (in February, 2001) until now, Sharon proceeded to lose all the strategic assets he had.
Ten years after the outrageous signing of the Oslo Agreements, Eight years after arming Yasser Arafat's Tanzim force, three-and-a-half years after the start of the Oslo War, Israel is more confused than ever, internationally weaker than ever, and is being stir-fried globally on almost every move she makes.
From the immoral decision not to rid ourselves of Arafat and his regime, the acceptance of the Road Map and the construction of the embarrassing fence (I am vociferously against this fence!), to talking of unilateral withdrawals, the road was very short.
Sharon, shockingly, is promoting the Barak-Mizna-Beilin plan today without blinking an eye. He will do it, he will not do it, no one really knows. But we are witnessing a phenomenon of a total ideological collapse, confusion and a style of maneuvering that is severely damaging the vital interests of the nation.
Ariel (Arik) Sharon must be thrown out of power as early as possible. In the past three-six months in particular, his performance and maneuvering has become a threat to Israel's well-being. Plain and simple.
The government of Israel is now making a chain of critical mistakes that will be painful and costly to undo in years to come. A few of these are:
1. Allowing Arafat to freely manage terrorism, as well as to control Palestinian diplomacy. This is literally a disgrace. People die all the time directly as a result of this hoax. No serious progress with the Palestinians will ever be possible as long as that man is around.
2. The continuous Israeli embrace of the "Road Map" as the only valid diplomatic platform. Israel agreed to a package of concessions in the midst of a war. The other side accepted Israel's intentions to make these concessions, while not dropping even one of its cynical claims, and continuing to use terror as a strategic tool. Kol hakavod, Arik!
3. The repeated references Sharon makes to "Bush's vision", and the general style of working with the US Administration, shows lack of basic understanding and vision for U.S?Israel relations. Sharon is turning Israel into a puppet government of the State Department. His adopting of an "always say 'yes'" strategy in his work relationship with the US administration will make the first time to he has to say "no" into a major crisis in US?Israel relations. It seems like Israel no longer tries to coordinate anything with the US administration; we simply say "yes" to anything they want.
4. The building of the fence is a mistake. It is counter-productive to the efforts to live with the Palestinians in peace in the future. It damages severely the majority of the Jewish communities in Samaria because it is weakening Israel's historic claim to the land. It is a fence of hate, born in a war of terror; it is an ugly scar on the body, the hills, of our beautiful Israel. No one will ever accept its path, and it will not even deliver the main benefit for which it was built - security. Israelis will continue to suffer Palestinian terrorism, but simply other forms of it. Perhaps worse forms, like Kassam rockets from Samaria, which were already found there in recent weeks.
5. Worst of all, the explicit talk in the past three-six months of destroying Israeli villages and settlements, relocation and transfer of thousands of Israelis from their homes, in a unilateral pullout of whole regions. This is the worst form of decision-making, and the most illegitimate ideological platform that Sharon and his government have introduced to date.
Summing up, it is clear that Sharon and his senior ministers must be removed from office. Many people ask, "But who do you have instead of him?" This is an irrelevant question. If the leadership, and its ideas for running the nation, has become so empty, so shallow and so damaging, you must get rid of the problem ? no questions asked. Sometimes the immediate, definite damage is worse than the unknown.
The leadership of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, the right-wing Knesset Members and ministers, and inevitably, the rest of the right-wing camp in Israel, must make a statement now and impeach Sharon. It will not only stop a severe downhill slide in the way things have been done recently, but it will also leave an important legacy, a standard, to those who will come after Sharon. May any future right-wing prime minister know - the settlements are the red line.
In the coming five years or so, in the post-Sharon era, we will need to form a "new right" in Israel. A new national agenda for our nation, which is relevant and coherent. A new approach to peace with our Palestinian neighbors, which is fresh and different than all the packages of lies that all the political parties are now trying to offer us. Sharon will not bring peace with his tactics. Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres already brought a war down on us. And the dear rabbi, Benny Elon, et al, will continue to offer poetry (transferring three million Arabs from their homes), not a valid or relevant solution.
The future generation of Israel's leadership - those of us who want a good life not only for our children, but for ourselves, as well - will have to fill this vacuum. And we shall!