[Israel]

While Sharon Lays Dying

I have been pondering whether to post on the imminent death of Ariel Sharon and the implications for Israel. I have resisted the urge for reasons Kevin Drum summarizes nicely:

Too many of us with non-fanatical views on the subject have simply decided that it's not worth engaging with something that routinely attracts near-insane levels of vituperation from partisans on both sides. As a result, the debate is left primarily in the hands of the fanatics.

Fair enough, here's my two cents. Israel is at the most dangerous crossroads of its history. Sharon, of all people, is now hailed as a moderate, in the Israeli version of the Yankee Rightward Drift. This perfectly highlights how the positions have become dichotomized. The polarization within the country is between those who want some kind of shared state and those who pretty much want the Palestinians dead or run off.

Does anyone feel like the state of Israel is a doomed venture? Like Iraq, the more I ponder the scenarios, the more I don't see very many in which Israel survives as a safe, functional republic.

On a related note, Pat Robertson is insane. Now even the White House has to distance itself from his senile ramblings. (He said of Sharon, "God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says 'This is my land,' and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, 'No, this is mine.'") He does inadvertently highlight the underlying tension between Evangelical Christians and Zionist Jews. Israel and the US, in the form of the recent Evangelical GOP, may have strong ties, but they're bizarre. Let's go ahead and schedule someone other than Pat to give Sharon's eulogy, whatsay?