By Gideon Samet Haaretz, April 24, 2002
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, known as the man who runs red lights, has dramatically changed the famous approbrium given him during the Lebanon War. Sharon is running half-a-dozen red lights. He's the most dangerous driver the national wagon has ever had. When he was given the nickname in the Lebanon War, he drove the cart into the mud. Now he's speeding madly in every direction, against all traffic, and taking every possible obstacle course.
His combined activity of destruction is an impressive personal feat. Here's a summary of the various crash courses he's embarked on. Sharon is conducting an unprecedented campaign of ruin against the Palestinians. The prime minister has destroyed most of what he calls the terrorist infrastructure, which includes, among other things, normal lives for hundreds of thousands of innocent residents of the territories. With extraordinary energy, he is clashing with the entire world over his refusal for a cease-fire. His silent partner, Yasser Arafat, is so helpful that if he didn't exist, Sharon would need to invent him. Sharon has already proved that he did not want to try a cease-fire even when there was an opportunity, like during the lull at the begining of the year. As for what he will do when the blood dries and the dust settles, his vagueness raises worrisome suspicions.
During all this he's been deep in a love-hate relationship with the American administration, cleverly exploiting George W. Bush's disinterest in imposing negotiations on the two sides. After destroying the economy, a huge budget deficit is putting him on a collision course with Israel's Arabs and the Haredim over cuts in child allowances for those who have not served in the army. His bureau chief quits under unclear circumstances, on the eve of a police investigation. To replace him, Sharon quickly picks talented attorney Dov Weisglass to handle an area where Sharon has always needed help - legal defense. Two nights ago, this very busy person spent a full day under interrogation. These kinds of troubles in Prime Minister's Offices of yesteryear, always spelled the beginning of the end for leaders who were much under less pressure than Sharon.
For someone else, all this house-to-house fighting would be more than enough to handle. But Sharon also has a battle under way with Benjamin Netanyahu, whose hot breath on his neck is driving the prime minister still further into military and political adventurism. Announcing his refusal to discuss removal of settlements, Sharon silences the wild right in his government and his Le Pens with leaks about his plans for only spinning wheels in any future territorial negotiations. While his right hand is busy with that, his left hand manipulates Shimon Peres and the remains of the Labor Party. Sharon does it all with impressive skill. He is also lucky. Never has the Likud faced such a limp organ as the Labor Party under Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.
In short, we have a prime minster who is a phenomenal juggler of burning torches. But no matter how spectacular that can be in the circus, it's turned the Israeli experience into a nightmare. Only ongoing national anxiety and incitement against Palestinians keeps his public support at current levels. Helping him was something that surprised a lot of people, including some of the IDF's top echelons: the efficiency of the military campaign in some very complicated operations. The sea of blue-and-white flags on the cars and porches of the country would have been much smaller had the IDF not provided the dubitable satisfaction that "we stuck it" to the Palestinians.
This path of blood and destruction cannot be summed up merely by counting the number of wanted men captured or killed, the munitions shops destroyed, the crushing of the Palestinian security services or Arafat squashed into his dark corner. The apparent success of the man running the red lights not only leaves behind physical destruction and mass misery, but also outlines in sharp relief the recklessness of a leader who has long been dragging his people on a useless journey of bloodshed. He, and his speeding, must be stopped before it is too late. Unfortunately, as of now - before the crash - that's still wishful thinking with little chance of fruition