Sharon to 'set out dovish vision'

[Brightmore]

Sharon to 'set out dovish vision'
Jerusalem Post
David Horovitz
September 2, 2005

If Ariel Sharon opts to leave the Likud and runs for election at the head of a new faction, he will set out a vision for Israel's borders in the West Bank similar to the route of the security barrier with minor additions, The Jerusalem Post has been told. And the prime minister, the Post has also learned, will indeed quit the party if its central committee defies him this month and votes for the leadership contest sought this winter by Binyamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau.

Despite discouraging public opinion polls, Sharon has not given up hope of persuading the Likud's 3,000-plus central committee members later this month to vote down a proposal for the leadership primary. He believes that many in the central committee will ultimately prove disinclined to approve a process essentially designed to unseat a serving prime minister, and that many will also assess that the party will lose a sizable proportion of its Knesset seats if led into a general election by Netanyahu or Landau rather than him.

If this proves to be the case, and Sharon retains the party leadership for the time being, he'll maintain his declared, albeit vague, readiness for a resumed political process, confident that the Gaza pullout will liberate Israel from early pressure for further concessions and aware in any case that nothing substantive can take place until after Palestinian parliamentary elections at the end of January.

If, however, the central committee does vote in favor of a leadership contest, the Post has been told, Sharon will duck that battle, quit the party, set up his own faction and speed toward general elections. He will be more ready to publicly set out a vision for Israel's borders, and that vision will largely coincide with the route of the security fence – encompassing the major settlement blocs and perhaps 10 percent of the West Bank (the security fence, as currently routed, encompasses some 7%). If realized, this would necessitate the dismantling of dozens of settlements and the relocation of their tens of thousands of residents.

Full article

[Jim Sagle]

1. Ariel's da man, doin' the best he can...to make the world a better place.

[Brightmore]

2. He should win the Nobel Peace Prize

If someone like Arafat did, why not Sharon? Sharon has done a heck of a lot more towards peace in the ME than Arafat ever did.

[Tom Joad]

3. Kissinger won the Noble Peace Prize

And Sharon deserves the same as Kissinger. But i was thinking more along the lines of being tried for war crimes.