A legacy lacking

[Englander]

By Akiva Eldar

Even on good days, a long time before everyone awaited the words of the brain surgeons at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, Ariel Sharon's brain was one of the most curious places in the world. His political plans, if there were any, were able to mold the identity of the State of Israel and its borders. His vision, if there was one, could have changed the face of the Middle East. Sharon associates spread the news that his brain was burning up with plans for more and more unilateral disengagements. Sharon denied it. Rumors scattered by his advisers about Sharon's 2006-model vision of peace transformed him into the darling of the left; Sharon refuted the rumors.

Sharon is leaving behind not just a leadership vacuum, but an ideological and strategic void as well. No one knows where the man who had been supposed to lead Israel, at the helm of a party representing a new path, was heading. How did he see Israel's place in the region and its relations with the Arab world - not in another 20, 50 or 100 years, but in another year or two? What did he really mean when he spoke about a "Palestinian state"? Has he really taken leave of the Jordanian option forever? Did any of his comments on "the occupation" really express empathy for the distress of another nation? Was the disengagement from the Gaza Strip the beginning of a process of drafting the country's borders, or only a cunning prank to get rid of a million and a half Palestinians at a good price?

If the Education Ministry were called on today, January 6, 2006, to describe Sharon's legacy, the sole document that could reliably be used is the platform of Sharon?s Kadima party - or at least it appears to be a party at first glance. One will not find there even a hint of the next unilateral disengagement, Sharon?s No. 1 secret. However, the platform does contain the fruit of Tzipi Livni's labors, the road map, a document whose validity officially expired exactly a week ago, but in practice has never had any validity.

Sharon's No. 2 secret was buried in the wink that accompanied his declarations of loyalty to the road map. If only those who believe that Sharon intended to implement the road map were to vote for Kadima, it's doubtful the party would win enough seats to cross the electoral threshold and make it into the Knesset.

To explain properly, it's worth mentioning that the road map (which was adopted by the government, along with 14 reservations) determines that in negotiations on the final-status agreement, special importance will be granted to the decision by the Arab League summit in Beirut on all tracks, even the Syrian-Israeli track and the Lebanese-Israeli track. The League's decision, from March 2002, proposed peace with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal to the 1967 lines (including the Golan) and the implementation of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194, which allows Palestinian refugees to decide whether to return to Palestine or receive compensation. What historian would dare include these lines in a chapter on Sharon's legacy?

More at;
Haaretz

[Lithos]

1. He has a major legacy

Though not one usually attributed to statesmen of the order of Ben-Gurion which is what he wanted I think in the end to be remembered for. Ha'aretz is being very near-sighted in their very narrow focus. Sharon is the last major link to the original pioneers of Israeli politics having been one of the go-to men for such people as Dayan, Ben-Gurion, Begin and Meir. It was up to him to provide a bridge to the future which I think he bobbled much like his failure in the Sinai in 1973. Nonetheless, his legacy will still be that of a change agent as he was part of almost every major event in Israeli history from 1948 until today.

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