The Best Case for Sharon 

The Best Case for Sharon

I'm still impressed that Sharon seems determined to remove settlements from the Gaza Strip. If it happens, this will be the most that has been given up by either side in the Israel/Palestinian conflict, probably ever.

It seems true that the only way he can do this and maintain his political support is to prove his toughness. Thus the wall, and the targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders. The Palestinians might reasonably conclude--anyone might--that if it is not Sharon in charge, it is likely to be someone even less open to negotiations.

So I sympathize with Kevin Drum--both his concern that he may simply not get what is going on in Israel, and his openness to the idea that if Sharon goes, Likud will shift even further to the right.

It follows that Bush might be right to support Sharon's plan--even though the timing seems crazy, Bush is already hated by the entire Arab world (even Jordan), etc. It has been clear since at least 1992 that Palestinians will not have a right of return, and Israel will not give up much of the West Bank; yet Bush may have caused a lot of anger over matters of style if not substance.

Do Iraqis really care about Palestinians? Does anyone? If Iraqis do care, then it seems to follow that Bush has made things tougher for himself in a place where he is already in a shooting war.

Of course, an argument like this one for Sharon has long been made for Arafat: if we don't deal with him, we'll have to deal with someone worse. Somehow, what the Palestinians say doesn't seem to matter much these days.

Couldn't Sharon proceed more by law and trials than by outright assassination? Wouldn't that show that he is truly above the terrorists? I guess the show of toughness as well as precision is very important to him now.