After Ariel Sharon
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Israeli television reporting Ariel Sharon’s second stroke in a month [Onejerusalem.com]
Sharon is the history of the Israeli state. He was injured fighting for Jerusalem in 1948. He led an incursion across Sinai and into Egypt during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. As Defense Minister, he was saddled with responsibility for the massacre of Palestinian refugees at Sabra and Shatila in 1982. The White House today called him “a man of peace,” but within his own country he is known as a warrior, and one finally willing to make the kinds of concessions that only a warrior can make.
So what now? A blogger we know in Israel, Lisa Goldman of On the Face — and certainly no fan of Sharon — told us the country feels “rudderless.” Sharon forged his own unique brand of diplomacy, of aggressive, rude disengagement, claiming that he would never relinquish the temple mount, then relinquishing Gaza.
Is (was?) Sharon a mirror of Israel, a fighter who is painfully learning how to give things up? Is he, like Bob Dole or Germany’s Helmut Kohl, the last of the leaders who fought in the old wars? Who has the stature to do what needs to be done next?
Allison Kaplan-Sommer
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Associate Editor, Israel21c
Blogger, An Unsealed Room
James Bennet
- Jerusalem Bureau Chief, 2000-2004, New York Times
Bernard Avishai
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Senior Fellow, Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University
Author, The Tragedy of Zionism
- Web Features
- The Israeli Blogosphere on Sharon
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January 5th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Hate to bring this up, but I fear it’s inevitable.
Rabin began Israel’s move toward peace, and for his efforts fell to an assassin. Now, in a later-day move toward peace, Sharon fragments the Likkud, and falls to a stroke. The Mossad, meanwhile is rumored to be expert not merely in espionage but in assassination through chemicals that cause seemingly ‘natural’ death.
Now, I’m no conspiracy theorist, but the so-called ‘Arab street’ thrives on the stuff. Can anyone predict the fallout from such inevitable conspiracy theories circulating among Israel’s neighbors?
January 5th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
I wonder if it doesn’t need to be a pair of leaders. Israel has a history as a warrior state. Last year, a young woman who had gone to school in Israel gave me her version of its modern history. She summed it all up in terms of who kicked whose butt when. She exhibited great pride each time Israel had kicked someone else’s butt. She coudn’t fathom my flinching responses to her aggressive language.
Perhaps it has been necessary for Jewish people to regain a sense of empowerment and pride by being warriors. If that is the current source of these attributes you can’t strip it from them without nurturing another source. It may require a pair of leaders: one who has been a warrior and sees the need for a transition (if they can afford that change with hostile neighbors) and another who has not been a warrior but clearly embodies empowerment, pride and wisdom. They could symbolize the time of transition, the struggles to find a balanced way to cross the bridge from one place to another, and the vision of what they’re trying to get to.
This all assumes, of course, that Ariel Sharon has been evolving from his warrior-self and that he is a mirror and the people of Israel do desire a change. I can’t speak to that.
January 5th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
An expatriate Israeli Jew in UK has this to say about Mr. Sharon over at Counterpunch.org tonight: Repose in Blood
Sharon Meets His Maker by Gilad Atzmon.
[Full text of article deleted from comment; please follow link to read. ED]
January 5th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Yo, little yellow bird. If you didn’t write it yourself, excerpt it or link to it. That much text in a comment thread slows down the conversation and, since it isn’t exactly covered under fair use, may piss off the writer.
January 5th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
Brendan: Sorry, and thanks! I should’ve thought of that. I didn’t think it was as long as many other posts, but the property issue bypassed me completely.
January 5th, 2006 at 8:14 pm
When you elect a hammer [for a leader], every problem is a nail– Bernard Avishai
Goodness know I have cursed Sharon and his policies and tactics but in the last year I had softened as he courageously, but unilaterally, took settlers out of Gaza. He broke a taboo. For that he deserves credit. It seems to me that he had come to the realization that Israeli security was very much bound up with Palestinian suffering and that perhaps he was not going to teach them the lesson he set out to teach them. This was especially so in the light of the ticking clock of demographic change. So he did a bold thing but he also faced reality. it took a certain amount of courage. Though one would have wished for a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians perhaps that was yet to come. And perhaps more disengagement. There was hope that would happen with Kadema
January 5th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Right. He did not trust the Palestinians. Don’t forget his mother said to sleep with an axe under his bed.
January 5th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
It’s amazing to read today’s Haaretz talkback ( blog) and the comments from those who feel he betrayed Israel by leaving Gaza. Even in this hour this is the feeling he stirred amongst those who had supported him.
January 5th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
The situation in Israel and environs is so intractable that it is unbearable, except with humor: Fark.com says that “Israeli TV reports Sharon has heart, brain functions after surgery. Some would argue this is the first time that has happened…”
January 5th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
I cannot discuss anything about the criminal 51st US state, Israel, with my last surviving WWII-participating Jewish uncle. He spoke in the harshest way to me ever, and he’s not a gentle man, when I compared The Wall around the Palestinians and their abuse and murder by Israel, to the acts of other total warfare states, such as Nazi-era Germany. He does not, cannot see it–and he is not unique. BTW, the Israeli Jews who are for peace and a Palestinian homeland are some of the most fearless and resolute people ever. Sharon is only one man, so it’s not all on him–there is obviously a lot of popular will behind him, including the crazy American Christian Zionists who cannot wait for the Temple to be rebuilt, fulfilling a prophecy and ushering in the Rapture and the kingdom of God here on earth. The New Yorker carried a long story in ‘98 on a prophecy that appears to be coming true, with lots of help from believers; and it can be read here for free: http://www.lawrencewright.com/art-jerusalem.html “Letter from Jerusalem: Forcing the End”
January 5th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
I have many relatives who survived the Holocaust and they support the State of Israel 100%.
Calling Israel a “criminal State� is what the neo-Nazis do on their websites. It’s amazing to me that so many “leftist and anarchists� find themselves on the side of white supremacists in their hatred for the Jewish State. But then, no one has ever accused the extreme left of b being rational.
January 5th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
Sharon from my perspective is a brave man who when he discovered that his old approach to making peace with the Palestinian people made a 180 degree turn
If Mr. Avishai could ever admit that he was wrong about Sharon I would have a lot more respect for him. He is one of those people who would rather defend a theory than look at the actual world and modify it to fit the facts.
His views may have had some validity some years back, today they are merely a laughable anachronism.
January 5th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
“It’s amazing to read today’s Haaretz talkback ( blog) and the comments from those who feel he betrayed Israel by leaving Gaza. Even in this hour this is the feeling he stirred amongst those who had supported him.”
I am not surprised at all. On the other hand, Sharon’s couragous move will in the end make it a lot easier to evacuate many of the other settlements on the West Bank which may or may not lead to peace, but at least it will make Israel free of an encumbrance it could ill afford.
January 6th, 2006 at 7:09 am
“shriber”: Well, I guess that neo-Nazis are right about one thing, then. Wait–let me guess: I’m a self-loathing Jew, right? I’m not toeing the party or tribe line? I would be considered an ultra-rightist by nearly any Radio Open Source listener, although I am nothing of the kind–neither right nor left: I’m against both; against power. And I don’t know that the right has a monopoly on rationality–left and right, both very ill-defined terms, each exhibit their own brand of kookiness, superstition, willful blindness, war-state worship, sacred cows. And the Coalition of the Unwilling has certainly made some strange bedfellows–or maybe not so strange, since we’re all equally allergic to war, unless we’ve had “other priorities”, and can hide in a nuke-safe mountain somewhere. Jews have been perhaps the longest-term ethnic victims in recorded history, so we have carte blanche and are blameless? I think not, he said, and disappeared (ba-doom!).
January 6th, 2006 at 7:18 am
P.S. to last post: “shriber”: The US eclipses Israel as a criminal state by orders of magnitude (especially since there’s an umbilicus running between them) and is on its way to Grand Champion Hall of Famer.
January 6th, 2006 at 8:32 am
“We are tired of fighting. We are tired of being courageous. We are tired of winning. We are tired of defeating our enemies. We want that we will be able to live in an entirely different environment of relations with our enemies. We want them to be our friends, our partners, our good neighbors. And I believe that this is not impossible.”
from remarks by Ehud Olmert at Israel Policy Forum this past June ( 05) via Huffington Post.
Allison, I think you are so right. It may be that with Kadima with Sharon at the head and Olmert at his side we were going to be seeing this transition if it was not happening already within Sharon himself. Bernard Avishai seems to be saying we will now regardless. Olmert, if he becomes the next prime minister, will have to embody that transition within himself. I am hopeful.
In this hour it sounds already off key to hear people arguing the same ol same ol on both sides.
No question Palestinians have to get their act together now. The sooner that stands in bold reflief, without any excuses left of Israeli occupation, the better. This means ending the occupation.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:23 am
“No question Palestinians have to get their act together now. The sooner that stands in bold reflief, without any excuses left of Israeli occupation, the better. This means ending the occupation.”
That was my point, and it was Sharon who got the ball rolling.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:24 am
Vituperative comments about either Israel will not solve any issues and are not worth answering.
January 6th, 2006 at 10:46 am
shriber: “it was Sharon who got the ball rolling”
Not Rabin, before the assassin?
Now, I’m admittedly no expert…
January 6th, 2006 at 11:10 am
ALYB: thanks for the link to counterpunch. I’ve taken the tip from you twice and have found it seeming like a site not unlike Common Dreams, but with a more uh, right-wing style mean streak. Nice.
January 6th, 2006 at 11:39 am
“Nikos”: Counterpunch is a bit messier at times than other big left/liberal sites like Common Dreams and Truthout, but it has a sense of humor and often carries conservatives who despise war and Bush, such as former Reagan cabinet member Paul Craig Roberts and military strategist and historian William Lind. In turn, some conservative and libertarian sites carry some liberal types such as Counterpunch’s (and The Nation’s) Alexander Cockburn. There is a wonderful “coalition of the unwilling” across the political spectrum, and if we all hold hands and blow together, we can put out the zillion candles on the bipartisan war machine’s self-congratulation cake. Then we can split up and bicker over stuff again as soon as Iraqi babies and American marines are safe.
January 6th, 2006 at 11:51 am
BTW, Sharon may have done some good, but he didn’t get any ball rolling. There have been peacemakers before and sometimes they’re assassinated or ignored or voted or shouted down. Anwar Sadat tried to help. One Saudi tried too–wasn’t King Faisal trying to cool down things? Or was it Fahd? And hasn’t Jordan been sort of moderate? And how come one guy at the top gets the credit? How about the efforts of the Unknown Citizen, including all the little people on both sides of The Wall who are friends and the Israeli Jewish grandmother group who keeps an eye on soldiers and tries to help Palestinians? And how heavy is the symbolism (AND the reality) of bulldozing the ancient olive trees which are also people’s livelihoods? One man’s vituperation is another man’s simple truth.
January 6th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
That there were other peacemakers big and little has nothing to do with this. ALYB you can criticize with good reason and I will agree but when it is said that Sharon got the ball rollong I think it means specifically removing the settlements of Gaza and breaking the taboo of removing any settlements because of fear of a very vocal messianism, the minority. This minority was able to achieve a lot because they and their supporters in Israel and abroad were feared. Sharon had the courage to break that taboo in the face of losing the support of his Likud Party. This redeemed him in my eyes. Maybe not entirely, but the present should weigh more than the past I feel, if one is to judge. Sharon has a lot of blood on his hands no question. This will be in his story forever. Let’s give him some credit for coming around.
January 6th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Granted!
January 6th, 2006 at 6:03 pm
I read that trashy little piece by Gilad Atzmon on Counterpunch and no thank you. It says more about the writer than anything to me. And I was not a supporter of Sharon (give me Yossi Beilin). To characterize Counterpunch ( and Cockburn) as “messier”, excuses tastelessness .
January 6th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Well, hey–Atzmon IS a jazz musician… probably uses “maryjane” ‘n’ stuff. It’s Friday night, so the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle o’ yahoos on the planet can go slice ‘n’ dice each other for the weekend, while plain folk honor the sabbath. W.C. Fields suggested that the solution to the world’s problems was to round up the leaders, put ‘em in a colloseum, give ‘em each a sock filled with horse!$&t, an’ let ‘em work things out. Skol!
January 7th, 2006 at 9:44 am
I used MJ, knew many who did and I and they never got that way ALYB… .no excuses. Jazz is better than that too. Anything does not go. Good Jazz, that is, has some redeeming social value imo. Good Jazz is a uniter not a divider.
Antidotally, I offer this, an excellent article in the LA Times by David Grossman who has a way of writing that puts a lump in my throat and chills up my spine. In other words, He hit’s home.
How Sharon Won Israel’s Trust
January 7th, 2006 at 10:29 am
“Potter”: May you never have to leave your country and feel whatever Mr. Atzmon feels. BTW, I love jazz, and loved pot, ’til 25 years ago. I’m not saying pot made him write that. I was just saying who gives a rat’s patootie about it all, for five minutes. Maybe if we all just keep typing, everything will be alright, eh? I’m practicing living, so that if peace ever predominates, I won’t feel lost in a void, having been accustomed to ceaseless trouble.
January 7th, 2006 at 11:28 am
Atzmon is an exile, apparently an accomplished saxophonist living in Europe. I assume he’s washed his hand of the thing though I suppose he hurts inside ( of course). Many have left.
When I say who gives a rat’s patootie about it all, it’s in the privacy of my own home. But apparenttly we both give a rat’s patootie. I have friends and family in Israel who live it everyday now. And I’ve been there, been close to it. The responses to the situation are myriad and say a lot about each person, maybe more than “the situation” itself. Many come out of the holocaust and/ or have lost all family and will be bitter to their end. And many on the Palestinian side ,survivng their catastrophy, will also will be bitter to their end But many also with the same background have an outstretched hand and abhor the hatred and the killing. Grossman is good to read: “Death as a Way of Life”.
I totally agree with you: “Maybe if we all just keep typing, everything will be alright, eh? I’m practicing living, so that if peace ever predominates, I won’t feel lost in a void, having been accustomed to ceaseless trouble.”
I still enjoy your posts for the most part so indulge me my criticisms and I will yours, esp when they hit home.
January 7th, 2006 at 11:30 am
BTW there have been moments here lately when I have wanted to leave…
January 7th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Yes, Ariel Sharon is just one man. With him out of the running (having been removed from power by God Himself, according to that skootch Pat Robertson), other people will undoubtedly continue to pursue the agenda, more or less, that Sharon headed for awhile, such as the “Super-Zionists”: http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=181 “Abramoff’s sleaziness is so brazen and off the charts as to be quite remarkable. As Issikoff reported last May, Abramoff funneled $140,000 from a charity to benefit inner-city youths to rabid Zionist Israeli settlers in the West Bank colonial outpost of Beitar Illit. “Among the expenditures,â€? Issikoff notes, “purchases of camouflage suits, sniper scopes, night-vision binoculars, a thermal imager and other material described in foundation records as ’security’ equipment…â€?
January 7th, 2006 at 11:35 am
“Potter”: Dig it! I’ve seriously considered the concept of leaving here–since it seems gone anyway! Please don’t ever interpret any response from me as being anything other than another fencing move. By all means, let’s argue as violently as we wish to; “sticks and stones may break my bones, but…”. BTW, I made that last post right as you were typing and sending, if you’ll look at the times.
January 7th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Yeah we were twins for a moment.
January 7th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Synchronicity? ESP? Amethyst-hanging-in-the-rear-view “mystic-crystal-revelation” age-of-Aquarius fertilizer? Or a repeatable likelihood fit to bet on in the futures markets? We report, you decide… inquiring minds want to know, but instead cede responsibilty for thought to the Ministry of Truth. Darn!
January 8th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Last night’s show was interesting, as always, but at certain times I thought I was listening to the “closed sourse” world of mainstream media. At least the podcast show was almost entirely a three-way discussion between the host, a former NY Times Bureau Chief and an Academic. I am not Knocking their knowledge, but I could have heard this discussion on many other media forums. What was so original and “Open” about it? Where were the alternaive voices? Yes there was one blogger from Isreal, but that was about it. Most noticably was the lack of representation of Palestinian and Arab views. This would be expected in the mainstream U.S. media, but I had hoped not here.
I hope there will be further shows that explore the Sharon legacy from many angles.
January 8th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
Sidewalker: I have been listening around and the Palestinian Arab opinion on this is very interesting. Nabil Shaath irked me when he went on about what Israel had to do next. I agree Israel has to do a lot yet BUT what about the chaos that is going on under his nose? Why were they handing out candy to the kids in Gaza at this moment?
Rami Khouri has been very interesting. Too bad we do not have Edward Said to weigh in. What would he be saying?
It may be too soon, or not quite right for some to talk about Sharon’s legacy while he is in crisis but I too hope that there will be at least another show on Sharon’s legacy from both sides. This show seemed like a quickly formed response to the situation. There are so many people one would want to hear from on this. But I was happy to become aware of the blogs linked above.
January 8th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
“sidewalker “: Like your handle. “Closed-Source Mainstream Media”–excellent! Yes! It’s proprietary empire-compatible spinware…the beta version of the truth. And the truth is bugs, worms, and viruses in CSMM’s code. Out of the mouths of the Warligarchy’s cheerleaders comes the purest vaporware.
January 9th, 2006 at 8:21 am
A crab is a “sidewalker”. Hmmmm.
January 10th, 2006 at 8:50 am
Y’all may have noticed that I frequently post for the dead, whose fingers weren’t long enough to reach across the space/time continuum and access the WWW. I can’t help but post this quip from the irrepressible Oscar Wilde regarding war in general: “As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.” See? It’s another job for the advertising/PR industry: unspinning prowar into antiwar; a kind of verbal alchemy from the lead of strife into the gold of peace. Sell it! Why not? And think of the product endorsements and merchandising opportunities. How about a peace futures market–betting on low countries to come up in the world economically? It would involve less dramatic profit-taking than war, but most people would FEEL richer, partly due to material wealth but also due to losing tons of worry and strain–you’d FEEL like Thurston Howell III on a sunny island.
January 10th, 2006 at 9:41 am
ALYB good suggestion for a whole show in there.
January 10th, 2006 at 9:58 am
“Potter”: I just read this morning that quite a while ago Bill Gates had a project in mind that was to be called “Sidewalk”–I dunno if our friend “sidewalker” is a techie, although I’m sure s/he is a crab at times, like the best of us. Link to article that mentions Gates’s project: http://www.slate.com/id/2133847/?nav=tap3 . EXCERPT: “Ten years ago, when I went to work for Microsoft, the newspaper industry was in a panic over something called Sidewalk—a now-forgotten Microsoft project to create Web site entertainment guides for a couple dozen big cities.”
January 11th, 2006 at 10:46 am
LYB, thanks for the sidewalk info, I think. Though now that you mention the BG connection, I might have to change my handle. Actually, I am a Gaijin (literally “outsider”) in Tokyo but think of myself as more treading the margin since I’ve been her for over 15 years. Also thanks Potter for the references. I will have to check out what they have been saying. I, too, wish E. Said were still around to give us some insights. One of the segments on the Democracy Now news show on Jan 6th was an interview with the Middle East director of Human Rights Watch about why they called for a reduction of US aid to Israel. When you hear about all the details about the building of THE WALL, you have to wonder if Mr. Sharon’s “peace initiative” is/was really a great transformation in his approach and character or just a more cunning strategy to divert attention from the latest land grab. It is hard to know with all the Knack vs Pink Floyd rhetoric covering over the facts on the ground.
January 11th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
“sidewalker”: If you are away from “home” and yet feel at home anyway, but not completely, then this site is surely for you: http://www.cultural-nomad.com/bretigne.html . And don’t change your handle–I assume you’re referring to the sidewalk, which is a good place to live. Seeya on it someday–but probably not in Tokyo. “Gaijin” sounds like a variant of marijuana. Hee. ;-{) Ho.
January 11th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Oops! I mean: http://www.cultural-nomad.com/
January 13th, 2006 at 4:09 am
Thanks ALYB. Had a look at that sight and realized I am also a cultural nomad. BTW, two songs that mention sidewalk are Madame George, by Van Morrison and Landlocked Blues, by Bright Eyes.
Are you more like Tweety or Big Bird? Have you seen this site? (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sfeltham/profile.htm)?
January 15th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
“sidewalker”: I’m more like a twit-y bird. “Madame George”–that makes me think of Lester Bangs’s review of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” more than it makes me think of Morrison’s work itself. The bird thing with me is a personal identification with birds which was greatly enlarged by a woman who gave me a long nickname which hinged on birds. Yeah, a cultural nomad–never fully at home; never fully a stranger, either… Peace. (:-{)-
January 15th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
BTW, I came here to show an email from Kurt Nimmo, whose blog “Another Day in the Empire” was blacked out when I went to it today. Here is his email explaining why, as I find it germane to this thread……………………………….”I’m sorry to respond in boilerplate fashion to those of you who have emailed to ask why I have decided to stop posting on the Another Day in the Empire blog. I wish I could answer all of you personally, but the response to my decision has been overwhelming. In lieu of a personal response, please accept the following explanation.
The primary reason I have decided to stop posting the blog has to do with threats. I have received many of them, including death threats. Usually, I am able to brush aside threats, since most are not of a serious nature, but lately I have received several that are not to be taken lightly, especially considering the fact somebody has taken the liberty to post my address and telephone number (information easily attained from the domain registry) in various places on the internet. First and foremost, I have a responsibility to my family and posting political commentary obviously comes in a distant second.
Earlier today, due to the above, my wife asked me to take down the blog. Her name is being used to post libelous and hateful messages on various forums and this disturbs her immensely (over the last two years, somebody has also hijacked my name to post hateful and threatening comments; as well, a writer, who shall remain anonymous, complained last year that he had received threatening phone calls by somebody claiming to be me). Moreover, I have received threatening phone calls at my place of work, thus jeopardizing my livelihood. I can no longer allow any of this to continue.
In the case of the threatening phone call made to my place of work, I have a good idea who it is — members of a local chapter of Betar, a Zionist youth organization. It is really of no importance how I know this. As for the hijacking of my name, that of my wife, and numerous death threats, I am fairly certain it is, as well, Zionists, who are angered, possibly to the point of violence, by my commentary and well-researched indictment of both Zionists and their political allies in this country.
Finally, I am saddened by the fact one cannot engage in political discussion in this country without being subjected to abusive and potentially violent behavior on the part of those who disagree. I’m afraid this will only get worse in the months ahead, as Bush and the neocons prepare to attack Iran. Unfortunately, there are many scary parallels between the United States in 2006 and Nazi Germany, circa the 1930s. I must stress again that I am concerned about the threats issued against my family and first and foremost the health of my wife.
I sincerely thank all of you for supporting the blog, especially those of you who have contributed financially. I hope for a day when all citizens in this country may be able to express their opinions without the fear of retribution and violence. Unfortunately, I believe things will get far worse before they get better.”
Kurt Nimmo
January 18th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
Nimmo back on WWW (per another email)!