Ariel Sharon: The Path Suddenly Gets Steeper

The news that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has suffered a second and far more severe stroke is heartbreaking.

I say that as someone who once saw Sharon as a thug for allowing Lebanese Christian militias to enter refugee Palestinian camps in 1982 under the guise of looking for “terrorists.” At least 1,000 refugees were slaughtered and Sharon was forced to resign as defense minister.

Reprehensible as that deed may have been, Sharon is a different man today and one who has earned my respect.

Somewhere along the line, Sharon’s world view matured. While one of his first acts as prime minister was to send troops into the West Bank and Gaza Strip to stop Palestinian suicide bombings, he also told his country folk the painful truth that they, as well as Palestinians, would have to make sacrifices in the service of peace.

So the chief architect of illegal (my word) Jewish settlements in Gaza ordered that they be dismantled. And for a fleeting moment it looked like the unimaginable – a nonviolent coexistence between two peoples historically at odds -- was possible.

But with Sharon in an induced coma on what may be his death bed and no successor of consequence waiting in the wings, the path to a lasting Mideast peace suddenly looks terribly steep.

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Some Palestinians are, of course, rejoicing over Sharon’s plight, but I found a number of them expressing support on various message boards. One, Hayel, a Palestinian living in the U.S., comments on the Guardian News Blog:

Sharon has done some terrible, even terroristic things in his past, but so have Palestinians . . . and he has been trying to bring the land to peace . . .Sharon now knows that only through justice and the establishment of an independent Palestine, can there be peace for Jews and Muslims. I thank Allah for opening his eyes, and, if it be God's will, may Sharon recover, and live to bring peace for Israel. Ariel, I will face Mecca and make the morning prayer for you.

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If there is any so-called man of the cloth more vile than the Rev. Pat Robertson, please let me know.

Contrast Hayel's comment with that of Robertson today on his "700 Club" television show:

[Sharon] was dividing God’s land. And I would say, woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations or the United States of America. God says, this land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.