| Ballots for Bullets |
3 February 2003
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Sharon Re-Elected, Grim Reaper Elated
The Israeli electorate went to the polls last week and decided to keep Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in office. Although polls showed most Israeli's more in agreement with the opposition Labour Party's policies, Sharon inspired more confidence in his ability to ride out the storm of Palestinian terror. Fear triumphed over reason, and the only winner in this election was Death.
That is not to say that a Labour victory would have made a difference. It takes two to stop fighting, and the Palestinians have shown no inclination to change their approach just because there is a new ex-general running Israel. Even if Mr. Arafat himself decided to make peace, there is a very radical segment of Palestinian society that appears as pig-headed, stubborn and intrasigent as the Israeli religious yahoos in their West Bank settlements.
The pattern for the Middle East is, sadly, Northern Ireland. Peace there has yet to come, but violence became too exhausting to persist. The ultra-unionists and the ultra-republicans are still there, but they have little support because the people are just too damned tired of it. It took a few centuries to get there, and the Arab-Israeli problem has only been running a few decades. The British, while occupying Ulster, tried a policy of keeping the violence to an "acceptable level." By that, they meant a level acceptable to them, not to the Orange-nuts or the Green-nuts. In the Mid-East, the acceptable level will be determined by those living there, but one might recommend none at all as something to attempt.