In the Shadow of Sharon

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In the Shadow of Sharon
By BENNY MORRIS
Published: January 6, 2006

IT is too early to assess Ariel Sharon's legacy. To be sure, he will be remembered as one of Israel's great field commanders, the wily, bulldozing general who cracked the Egyptian bastion at Um Katef-Abu Awgeila in 1967 and led the crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973, turning the tables in the Yom Kippur War. With greater ambiguity, he will go down as the defense minister who orchestrated the 1982 invasion of Lebanon that, paradoxically, set Yasir Arafat on the road to Oslo and (however insincerely) peace with Israel.

Mr. Sharon will also be known as the chief architect of the Likud Party's settlement drive in the occupied territories. His defeat, as prime minister, of the second Palestinian intifada will doubtless be carefully studied, once the hysteria and hype die down, as a model of a relatively clean, successful counterinsurgency.

But that is for the future. Meanwhile, Mr. Sharon's stroke has plunged Israel and the region into deep confusion.

Just a few days ago, there were a handful of certainties. All the polls indicated that in the coming Israeli general elections, scheduled for late March, Mr. Sharon's new Kadima Party would win handily, reinstalling him in the premiership. It was not clear how large a mandate he would enjoy or who would be his coalition partners. But a Sharon-led Israel was a certainty.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/opinion/06morris.html?ex=1137301200&en=c4761fc538fa1190&ei=5070

[MADem]

1. You have to wonder what idiot wrote that headline????

It is a thoughtful and very well-written article, but I must confess, the first thing that came to my mind is Sharon's rather considerable girth, which would cast quite a shadow in bright sunshine.

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2. Thanks, yes, he is a heavy man

and carries it, seemingly, all in the middle