Only a few months of grace remain

[Gimel]

The fashionable tendency to dismiss Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not entirely justified. During his first two years in office, he had a series of significant accomplishments: Sharon got Israel out of the dizzy situation in which it found itself toward the end of the era of former prime minister Ehud Barak, Sharon stood firm in face of the terrorist onslaught unleashed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, and Sharon established the iron principle that Israel does not withdraw under fire.




In spring-summer of 2002, he even behaved like a true statesman. In the two months following the Seder night massacre in Netanya, Israel's prime minister didn't make do with the massive show of strength in Operation Defensive Shield, but performed a courageous political act when he adopted the idea of the Palestinian state at the Likud convention and designed a balanced strategy whose long-range aim was to create a worthy Palestinian partner. In addition, Sharon changed the election system, isolated Shas, and built a stable secular coalition that reflects - for better and for worse - the values and beliefs of the Israeli majority.

Sharon's policy reached a peak on June 14, 2002. On that day, when U.S. President George W. Bush presented his vision of a democratic Palestine to the international community, he didn't fully express the world view of his Israeli ally. The belief in democracy, and especially Arab democracy, is not exactly the most precious thing to the cowboy from Sycamore Ranch. However, Bush's vision reflected a profound American-Israeli understanding about the need to dismantle the Palestinian terrorist regime and to end the occupation immediately afterward. In practical terms, Bush's vision gave Sharon the ideological security umbrella under which he could move in a responsible and organized manner toward replacing an occupying Jewish state that is expiring, with a democratic and permanent Jewish state.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/375715.html