Wanted: An Arab Sharon, Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 1/11/06

[Coastie for Truth]

Ariel Sharon's sudden stroke, which has removed him from Israeli politics, has triggered a tidal wave of speculation about who will be his Israeli successor: Ehud Olmert? Bibi Netanyahu? Shimon Peres? So much about the future for Israeli-Arab peace, we are told, rides on that question. But as I think about the post-Sharon Middle East, I find myself asking a different question: Is there an Arab successor to Mr. Sharon? Or, better yet, is there an Arab Sharon?

Even asking such a question may seem incendiary. After all, Ariel Sharon made his name as Israel's most ruthless Arab fighter and unrestrained settlement builder. For many years, that was "Sharonism." So one could easily say that there are many "Arab Sharons": the Arab leaders who have made their names by ruthlessly resisting Israel.

Had Mr. Sharon passed from the scene several years ago, before becoming prime minister, his epitaph would have read: "Israel's most brutal Arab fighter, settlement-builder and hard-liner" - period.

But you can't write his biography without his term as prime minister, which has been his finest and wisest hour. There are not many 77-year-old leaders who not only acknowledge that one of their greatest projects in political life was wrong and posed a dire threat to the future of their people, but then also risk their remaining lives and political careers to reverse it. That, too, must now be called "Sharonism."

So when I ask whether there is an Arab Sharon, I am really asking whether among the Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese and Saudis - the key Middle East nations that have still not reconciled with Israel - there are leaders who are also ready to acknowledge that their lifelong efforts to keep their societies in a state of hostility against Israel, and to demand the right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel, has been a huge waste and, if not reversed, poses a dire threat to the future of their own societies?

Note Friedman's acknowledgement of (agreement with) Haaretz newspaper editorialist Gideon Levy: "The belated enthusiasm for Sharon is enthusiasm for a clever leader who tried toward the end of his life to extricate himself somehow from situations that a wise leader would never have gotten into in the first place. ...The old Sharon was one who led the country into the most superfluous and harmful of Israel's wars, the Lebanon War, and would not even raise his hand in favor of the peace agreement with Jordan." at .

[stopbush]

1. Friedman. What an inconsequential ass.

I guess he's looking for a middle-aged Arab who can - today - massacre the inhabitants of a couple of Israeli villages, then return in 20 or so years to become an important leader. I'm sure that over the course of those 20 years Israel would practice its well-documented ability to forgive the crimes of their enemies and would welcome such a reformed statesman with open arms.

That is what you're asking for, isn't it, Tommy Boy?

Here's a thought: how about a Arab political columnist stepping forward who can lecture Tom Friedman and Israel on what THEY should be doing (from the Arab viewpoint, of course) with the same gusto and wearing the same set of blinders that Tommy Boy employs whilst penning his biased screeds? After all, turnabout is fair play...

[TokenJew]

3. I guess you don't read the Arab press much

because they are full of writers doing just what you suggest.

But back to your main point, since the article is cut off, you missed the final portion where he basically explains that an older Sharon was able to see the folly of what he did when he was young, while Arafat and Assad were not. And that's the point: the Pals need someone who can recognize the folly of their actions and change their course.

[stopbush]

5. You're right, I didn't readf the end because I refuse to subscribe

to Times Select.

And, no, I don't read the Arab press much. Maybe the NYT could hire an Arab columnist to provide balance to the likes of Friedman.

BTW - why is it that vermin like Sharon and Nixon and Jimmy Swaggert never seem to just crawl away into some hole after they've done their dirty work? Why are they so intent on rehabilitating their public images? I'd rather they just slink off somewhere and leave the world alone.

[TokenJew]

6. I don't know how the three are related

sort of a random mish mash of people you disdain.

Read the Arab News, Gulf News, Al Jazeera or some of the other Arab Media and see the Arab Friedman's for yourself. But you could easily do a trial for Times select and cancel it right away. That's what i did.

[stopbush]

10. Maybe I'm close minded on Friedman - I gave up on him long

ago before the Times Select scheme went into effect. I put him right up there will Safire. I miss reading Dowd and Krugman.

Yes, I disdain those people. Don't hate 'em, just disdain 'em.

[occuserpens]

2. What's the problem?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwan_Barghouti

[TokenJew]

4. Was thinking of him too

though I have serious doubts he'll be released by Israel in the near future if ever.

[occuserpens]

7. The point is,

Friedman pretends that Barghouti simply does not exist

[TokenJew]

8. Or, perhaps he recognizes

that he may never get a chance to do anything about it.

[occuserpens]

9. Sure, Friedman knows everything OK

This is just the way he plays his game

[bemildred]

11. The usual drool from Friedbrain.

Sharon differed from the other founders in being even less subtle and intelligent. That's why he was the last to rule, and the least successful.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Why can't Tom Friedman be the one in a coma instead of Sharon?

Friedman is a warmongering idiot whose columns are as pathetic as the newspaper that publishes them.

I truly hate this man!

[bemildred]

13. Tom, get togetherwith Mona so you can work out a common position:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x111773

"The Arab world hates Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon because he comes across as the quintessential Arab leader - a charismatic military man turned politician, well-versed in strong-arm tactics, whose political party is so identified with his greater-than-life character that its existence without him is questionable. It is not the Arab blood on his hands that garners Sharon so much Arab hatred, but that he has become the repository for the expression of that hatred in a way Arab leaders would never allow."