Sharon a Great Success? 

Sharon a Great Success?

This article caught my eye when it was referred to in "In Other Magazines" in Slate:

Sharon has been very successful in fighting terrorism. Hamas is operating much less openly and effectively today than it was a year or two ago; the areas of Israel that were hardest hit by suicide bombers have become much safer; and Palestinians themselves are increasingly treating Arafat as a pariah.

In other words, in this case the use of force (including the wall) did not simply generate a worse and worse backlash.

Of course, Israel is also more of a pariah than it used to be.

What can Bush or Kerry learn from this? Apparently the use of force must be targetted, so that it can usually be proved that it was in fact the bad guys who were taken out. Labour-intensive security measures, such as erecting a wall and conducting careful searches, go a long way. Perhaps above all, have the flexibility to reach out to at least some former enemies: in recognizing the need for a Palestinian state, Sharon broke with his own Likud party, and showed some freedom from the "hard right" label that is usually attached to him.

Now if he can just succeed in getting Israelis out of Gaza, he will deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.