Ariel Sharon suffers stroke
Speaking of Ariel Sharon, which I did in my previous post, the BBC is reporting that the Israeli prime minister "has been taken to hospital after suffering a 'very minor' stroke." Officials at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital say that "[Sharon] is conscious and that his condition is not life-threatening". See here for more.
Last month, Sharon, whom I tapped here as a worthy Nobel Peace Prize candidate, left Likud to start a new centrist party, Kadima (Forward).
Let's hope he recovers fully from this setback. Israel -- and the Middle East -- needs him to lead the way toward peace.
**********
Update (12/19/05): The Jerusalem Post has more here. Haaretz has more here.
Last month, Sharon, whom I tapped here as a worthy Nobel Peace Prize candidate, left Likud to start a new centrist party, Kadima (Forward).
Let's hope he recovers fully from this setback. Israel -- and the Middle East -- needs him to lead the way toward peace.
**********
Update (12/19/05): The Jerusalem Post has more here. Haaretz has more here.
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
7:54 PM
1 Comments:
Isn't it bizarre that we are considering Ariel Sharon for the Nobel Peace Prize? It just shows how history works in strange ways. There is a fat chance of that happening, though, since increasingly, the left is beginning to adopt Hamas' mantra that Israel's very existence is illegitimate. What worries me is that, as Israelis, even on the right, are increasingly coming to see a two-state solution as inevitable, the Palestineans, with support from the western left, may be starting to reject that and go for a maximialist solution--ie, a binational, "secular democratic" Palestine, ie, eliminating Israel. While I don't necessarily see Hamas' support being tied to that--a lot of it's support among Palestineans comes from their disgust with the corruption of the PA--it certainly does not auger well for acceptance of separate Palestinean and Israeli states. But the binational solution is simply unworkable--in part because Israels would never accept being a minority in a Palestinean state. Why be a minority in a state dominated by sworn enemies who hate Jews? And I don't see anyone on the Palestinean side like Nelson Mandela that would advocate tolerance and reconciliation. What I see is that Hamas would push for an Islamic state that, while it might allow Jews to live there, would never consider them more than second-class citizens.
I fear that if the Palestineans think that the West would eventually advocate a single state solution, they will have no incentive to work toward a two-state solution. And the Israelis will become more intransigent if Sharon is not around.
By
Anonymous, at 11:32 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home