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Haaretz Columnist: Sharon A "bullshit Artist" |
Current rating: 0 |
by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
25 Nov 2003
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"Sharon is a one-man Bullshit Artists, Inc. He is bullshitting Bush the same way he is bullshitting the citizens of this country. The future of the settlements, the outposts, the fence project and where it is heading - none of these matters is being addressed in any tangible way. " Note also the reference at the end to Sharon's little family Whitewater, which doesn't hit the papers here.. |
w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m
Last update - 01:52 25/11/2003
Bullshit Artists, Inc.
By Yoel Marcus
Ariel Sharon reminds me these days of Chance the Gardener, the star of the movie "Being There," based on Jerzy Kosinski's book. Chance's world revolves around images from the world of gardening: "Seeds are sown in autumn;" "flowers blossom in spring;" "leaves turn yellow in the fall;" "when winter is over and summer comes, the trees will bear fruit."
The Washington political scene, including the president himself, is convinced that lurking behind Chance's simple words are incomparably profound political insights and multiple meanings that will solve the problems of the world. He utters a word and everyone thinks he might mean this or might mean that. Altogether, an out-and-out genius.
That's what popped into my head as I heard the news that the prime minister is planning to dismantle outposts, maybe even unilaterally, as soon as next summer. Why next summer? Heck, we just finished this one. At the moment, it's fall. Winter will be here soon, and then spring, and finally, summer. In the meantime, another year of doing nothing will go by.
Sharon's world is full of rhetoric that sounds promising. For example, his commitment to "painful concessions," which people can interpret however they want. It could mean giving up territories, but also the opposite: holding on to territories instead of peace. That's painful, too.
A couple of months ago, Sharon said it was impossible to lord over 3.5 million Palestinians. The pundits melted like butter: Sharon is finally about to do something big. But it was all talk. Since then, nothing has happened.
This week, with autumn still upon us, they said Sharon would begin unilateral action in the territories. It got a headline, but when the government convened, it turned out to be a typical Sharon bubble. All he said was that he didn't rule out unilateral action, but he hasn't decided what he plans to do, when he plans to do it, or whether he will do anything at all.
"It's all virtual," said Avigdor Lieberman. "It's all media spin," said Benny Elon. No one took Sharon's statements seriously, including Sharon himself: "I say half a sentence and everyone reads into it what they want."
Sharon has reached the point where his good friend Bush scolded him from London for not making the grade in terms of gestures that would propel the road map forward. In the atmosphere generated by the wave of terror that week, the president's words could have been interpreted as a warning: Israel was liable to be blamed for this wave of terror.
A chill wind is blowing from the White House. It is openly disappointed with Sharon for not taking steps that would pave the way for fruitful dialogue with the government of Ahmed Qureia. The United States supports a Russian proposal to put the UN Security Council in charge of implementing the road map.
Sharon is a one-man Bullshit Artists, Inc. He is bullshitting Bush the same way he is bullshitting the citizens of this country. The future of the settlements, the outposts, the fence project and where it is heading - none of these matters is being addressed in any tangible way.
To this day, no one knows for sure if Sharon really halted the construction of 43 outposts. No one knows what his intentions are regarding the settlements in Gaza. No one knows his views on the dangers of a binational state. On every topic that concerns Israel's survival, he uses the imagery of Chance the Gardener - or lashes out at the media.
Unlike Elyakim Rubinstein, who doesn't understand that his problem is not his skullcap but his spinelessness, Sharon actually appreciates how important the media is. He has no peer when it comes to both exploiting the media and jumping down its throat. On the one hand, he and his office are involved in media spin 24 hours a day, selling us baloney and manufacturing cover-ups. On the other hand, there is nothing easier than blaming the media when things go wrong.
The Israeli public, and the political system as well, sense that their leader is not telling the truth. Comparing Sharon's promises and half-statements to his performance as prime minister, it is plain as day that behind his cryptic utterances there is not the tiniest intention to carry out painful concessions.
The truth is that he has squandered the unique opportunity that came his way when he was elected by a landslide and people believed that "only Sharon could." Now, bogged down by his family's legal problems, his strength as a leader has reached rock bottom.
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Reform Leader Calls On U.S. To Pressure Israel, Jews To Pressure U.S.
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Meanwhile: US To Withhold Quarter-gigabuck In Loan Guarantees To Pressure Sharon |
by haaretz via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Nov 2003
|
Last update - 23:19 25/11/2003
U.S. to trim Israeli loan package over settlements, fence
By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration announced Tuesday night that it will trim $289.5 million from a $9 billion package of loan guarantees for Israel, penalizing Israel for its settlement activities in the territories.
In talks held Tuesday morning between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass, U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon, it was agreed that the cut would also set off Israel's investments in several segments of the West Bank security fence, but these investments would be defined in a separate clause of the U.S. decision.
The calculation includes the sums that the Israeli government has spent in the West Bank and Gaza Strip both on infrastructure and on the security fence, but does not include investments defined as "security investments."
Israel will begin next month to secure international loans on account of American loan guarantees given this year, but will be able to raise less money due to the setoff.
U.S. envoy to visit Israel, territories
In an apparent sign of revived U.S. interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, senior U.S. official William Burns will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next weekend for the first time since August.
A State Department official said on Tuesday that Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, would also go to Egypt before joining Secretary of State Colin Powell on a tour of North Africa next week.
The Bush administration has stepped back from active intervention to back Middle East peace efforts for most of this year because of its preoccupation with Iraq.
In the meantime two groups of unofficial Israel and Palestinian negotiators have launched peace initiatives of their own, independent of the road map peace plan which the U.S. is promoting and which Israel has accepted.
Earlier this month Powell welcomed the initiative by former Israeli and Palestinian officials Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabbo, while also repeating U.S. commitment to the road map.
The State Department official, who asked not to be named, said an official observer from the U.S. Embassy in the Swiss capital Berne will attend a ceremony for the signing of the Geneva Accords in Geneva on December 1.
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