JERUSALEM, Nov. 11 -- Three years into war with the Palestinians, Israelis are losing patience with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. With violence continuing and peace efforts at a months-old impasse, members of Sharon's government are voicing dissent, activists are pursuing independent peace initiatives and opinion polls show his approval ratings sinking.
The military's top general has publicly challenged Sharon's handling of the conflict, and long-dormant peace groups and dovish politicians are showing signs of rejuvenation. A memorial service for slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 1 drew 100,000 people and turned into the largest peace rally since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
Activists from Israel's peace movement, reinvigorated by Ariel Sharon's failure to bring an end to the three-year conflict with Palestinians, demonstrated outside the prime minister's residence late last month.
(Gali Tibbon -- AFP)
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"After three years, it's time to rethink," said Asher Friedberg, a political science professor at the University of Haifa. "Both sides are tired of what's going on. We're at a dead end."
Israeli pollsters and political analysts said the confluence of events and trends has produced the sharpest divisions within the Israeli leadership and among the populace since the first months of the uprising. Political leaders and analysts said the dissatisfaction among Israelis is exacerbated by mounting concern over the deterioration of the U.S. occupation in Iraq and its potential for inflaming the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Analysts said they do not believe the Sharon government is in danger of collapse, but they interpreted the trends as a turning point in the country's attitudes toward the uprising and a warning to the hawkish prime minister and his administration. With the conflict in its fourth year, more than 2,500 Palestinians and almost 900 Israeli residents have been killed.
"The mainstream is not as certain of Sharon as it was a few months ago," said David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Report, a current events magazine. "Mainstream centrists in Israel want to get back to the peace table."
In a poll released late last week in Maariv, a Hebrew-language newspaper, about one-third of respondents said they were pleased with Sharon's performance, and less than one-third said they would vote for him if elections were held now.
Even some of Sharon's closest associates in his Likud Party are hesitant to defend the prime minister.
"Are the people unhappy with the present situation?" said a senior official in Sharon's administration, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Yes, they are unhappy to a certain extent -- maybe even to a large extent."
The official said that Sharon's "not having delivered to the extent that people hoped for on the security angle certainly does cause concern" within the administration.
Sharon campaigned in 2001 and 2003 on promises to restore security to the country, and his government has relied on harsh military measures in the Palestinian territories. But with the conflict still unresolved, his policies have come under increasing criticism, particularly the occupation of the West Bank, assassinations of suspected militants, demolitions of their homes and the construction of a $2 billion West Bank fence complex. Sharon has argued that such actions are necessary to stop suicide bombings and other attacks in Israel because the Palestinian Authority has made no effort to rein in militant organizations.
Sharon also is struggling with a deep economic crisis and is mired in scandals involving family business deals and allegedly illegal campaign contributions.
The prime minister does not feel threatened, however, the official said: "Frankly, there is no one to beat him."
At the same time, Israeli officials say they believe that with President Bush facing what could be a tough reelection campaign, Sharon expects to be largely free of pressure from Washington to make any major policy changes for at least another year.
