Israel, Arab Nations React to News of Sharon's Stroke

Israel, Arab Nations React to News of Sharon's Stroke

washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Jefferson Morley , author of the World Opinion Roundup blog, discusses reaction in Israel and Arab nations to news of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's stroke.

From World Opinion Roundup : Sharon's Last Chapter? , ( Post, Jan. 6, 2006 )

The transcript follows.

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Jefferson Morley: Welcome all.

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Now to the questions

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Gaithersburg, Md.: I've heard a lot about how Sharon had uniquely won the confidence of Israelis. But I've also been struck that it's not simply Sharon's history and personality that have won confidence but very much also his policy of unilateral disengagement and unilateral definition of Israeli borders.

Do you think that Sharon's party might be successful presenting themselves as the vehicle for continuing and fulfilling Sharon's vision? Do I overestimate the power to the Israeli electorate of the idea of unilateral disengagement?

Jefferson Morley: Its good question. Do Israelis believe in the policy as much as they believe in Sharon? Probably not. The problem for Sharon's party is that the Labor party on his left is not that far from Sharon's position. In the absence of Sharon's personality, Labor's Amir Peretz may be able to recoup former Labors who had drifted to Sharon. On the right, Netanyahu (or whoever the candidate is) will have a tougher time attracting centrist voters because Sharon legitimized the idea of ceding territory to the Palestinians.

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Anonymous: Some sources are reporting that Sharon was pronounced dead at 6:00 a.m. EST

Jefferson Morley: I rely on Haartez http://www.haaretzdaily.com/ for breaking Israeli news. Their story, time stamped just a few minutes ago, says that Sharon's condition is "serious but stable."

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Baltimore, Md.: In his column today, Charles Krauthammer said: "the 1993 Oslo peace accords ... proved a fraud and a deception. The PLO used Israeli concessions to create an armed and militant Palestinian terrorist apparatus right in the heart of the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

Is this a fair characterization of the failure of OSLO, and of what went on in the occupied territories? (It was my (casual) perception that neither side lived up to the agreements.)

Jefferson Morley: No, its not a fair description. The problem was that Palestinian and Israeli elites wanted peace but were not able to deliver their respective societies. Oslo called for Israel to pull out of the West Bank but the number of settlers continued to grow. Yitzak Rabin was assassinated, depriving Israel of a leader with the stature to oversee a final agreement Hamas launched a series of suicide attacks on buses that stiffened Palestinian rejectionism. The Israelis came to Camp David and asked the Palestinians to accept their terms for a new settlement which left the Palestinians even worse off than they had been under Oslo. The Palestinians already agreed not to contest Israeli control over close to 70 percent of historic Palestine. They felt they couldn't compromise any more and walked away from the table. The intifada started soon after.

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Washington, D.C.: Since you're The Washington Post's expert on the Kennedy assassination and its aftermath, can you speculate on the likelihood that Sharon was poisoned with a substance used to kill a suspect in the Kennedy plot, which also caused a massive stroke with no obvious signs of poisoning?

It is narrow-minded to look at the sudden disruption of the middle east peace process and not consider that it could be maliciousness from a terrorist country like Iran or Syria. These countries will have to be invaded before America's war on terrorism is won, and so we should do all our unpopular work at once. This is what Machiavelli recommends generally.

Jefferson Morley: I've seen no evidence to support the idea, so I don't believe.

I suppose it is possible. I am certain Israeli intelligence would check the possibility and not be shy about producing evidence.

As a conspiracy theory, its the mirror image of the Palestinian theory that Arafat was poisoned.

I believe in Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is usually the best. Since both Sharon and Arafat were very old, under incredible stress, plagued with health problems and fond on unhealthy lifestyles, I think their health problems were natural.

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Portsmouth, R.I.: Why is it that the media does not include in its coverage that the Israel will not turn over East Jerusalem because this would put the "Western Wall" in the hands of the Palestinians? The vast majority of Americans are not aware that the Al Aqsa Mosque (the roof) and the Western Wall (one wall) cannot be separated.

Jefferson Morley: I don't know who you mean by "the media."

In the case of the Washington Post we have reported the Israeli position on East Jerusalem.

You are certainly correct that the vast majority of Americans are unaware of the connection between the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Western Wall. This is because of lack of interest, not media negligence.

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Tampa, Fla.: Should we expect the U.S. MSM to continue ignoring Sharon's blood-stained past? Do you expect the European media to be more objective and honest in sticking to the truth?

I refer to Sharon's exploits with Unit 101, such as the massacre of over 60 innocent Palestinians in 1953, his slaughtering 270 Egyptian POWs in 1956, and his personal responsibility (according the Israeli government's own Kahan Commission) for the butchering of 2400 (according to the Internat'l Red Cross, or "only" 800 according to the Israeli government) innocent Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon. And let's not forget the tens of thousands of innocent Lebanese killed in Sharon's invasion of Lebanon.

Yassir Arafat came nowhere near to matching Sharon in cold-blooded murder. Let's give Sharon the same respect in his death as we gave Arafat, the respect he truly deserves deserves as one of the 20th great criminals: goodbye and good riddance.

Jefferson Morley: I think as long as Sharon is still alive, the MSM will refrain from critical commentary, just as the Arab press is largely doing now. (See yesterday's blog entry)

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Washington, D.C.: If Westerners had been the target of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, the Lebanon War, and the systematic disregard for the Geneva Conventions by Sharon -- do you think there would be any confusion about Sharon's legacy in the Western media? It seems that a lesser standard of review is regularly employed where the lives of Palestinians and Arabs are concerned.

Jefferson Morley: Well, as a mental exercise, we would have to complete analogy by imagining that the Westerners had been killed by a state founded by survivors of a genocidal cataclysm.

In that case, would the reversal of ethnicities make a different in our thinking? Probably.

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Overland Park, Kan.: What is your impression of Ehud Olmert? What is the most important thing for readers to know about him at this time? Thanks.

Jefferson Morley: Olmert followed the same path as Sharon. In recent years, he has gone from security hawk who rejected the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state to advocate of stopping Israeli expansionism and allowing an Arab state to emerge. He would continue Sharon's policies of unilateral withdrawal but he doesn't have battle-tested persona.

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Charlottesville, Va.: Who are the most likely successors to Sharon? What are their relationships with Washington, the Palestinians?

Jefferson Morley: Ehud Olmert is one possibility. He is leading contender to take Sharon's place as the candidate of the new Kadima party.

Another possibility is Labor Party leader Amir Peretz. He too would withdraw unilaterally from the West Bank. His appeal has been primarily economic, to the poorer, often non-European sectors of Israeli society. The question is whether Israelis buy his security message. He is not well-known in Washington or among Palestinians.

Benjamin Netanyahu is the likely candidate of the right-wing Likud party. He refused to follow Sharon's path to territorial compromise. He is well-connected with Bush administration policymakers. He is universally disliked and mistrusted by Palestinian public opinion

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Alexandria, Va.: Wow, an obese 77 year old man has a stroke. How unlikely! Someone must have poisoned him!

No, it's not -impossible-, but people (like, oh, Sharon's doctors and Israeli security people) in a position to know will certainly investigate if there's any reason to. This kind of unfounded speculation helps create discord.

Jefferson Morley: Unless there's some evidence, speculation is pointless.

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Arizona Bay, Ariz.: What's your take on Pat Robertson's comments that Sharon's stroke was because he "was dividing God's land and I would say woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the EU, the United Nations, or the United States of America." I thought Catholics were supposed to be compassionate.

Jefferson Morley: Pat Robertson isn't Catholic.

I think his remarks lack compassion and reflect religious fundamentalism.

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Fortaleza, Brazil: Both Rev. Pat Robertson and Iran's president seem to see some divine justification for Sharon's illness. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the Bush administration will be more careful in how in criticizes Robertson's statement (if they do at all) than the Iranian president's.

Jefferson Morley: I imagine the Bush administration will stay away from the whole question of fundamentalist theories about Sharon's health problems.

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Ottawa, Canada: Media in Canada are reporting concerns about the type of treatment that was given to Sharon before his last stroke. Doctors are questioning the use of blood thinning medication in a patient who had already suffered a stroke. Some are also wondering why Sharon wasn't taken to hospital by helicopter rather than by ambulance which took over an hour. Is any other media writing about this?

Jefferson Morley: Yes. The question of ambulance v. hospital got close coverage yesterday in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest circulation newspaper.

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Alexandria, Va.: In my mind both Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat, along with many other Israeli and Palestinian leaders, were terrorists. My family (Lebanese) was a victim of both Palestinian and Israeli acts of violence. Sure we can argue who killed more people or ordered more oppressive campaigns. However, in the end, to the people they led, they are more heroes than terrorists. To keep trying to argue who was more of a killer is pointless and maintains a cycle of hatred and violence that needs to be stopped in order for there to be any hope of peace.

Jefferson Morley: Thanks for your well informed point of view.

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Jefferson Morley: Our time is up. Thanks for the questions. For the first time, I can say that all were answered.

News update: Ariel Sharon's condition remains "stable but very serious."

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