The pied piper of Israel —Uri Avnery

<snip>

"Some 721 years ago, the town of Hamlin in Germany was plagued by rats. A man offered to get rid of them for an agreed fee. When he played his flute, the entranced rats came out of their holes and followed him to the river where they drowned. But when the piper presented his bill to the town fathers, they wouldn’t pay him.

The piper wrought a terrible revenge. He played his pipe once again, and this time all the children of the town followed him. He led them to a cave in a mountain, and none of them was ever seen again.

Ariel Sharon is a modern version of the piper. After they had suffered a terrible election defeat, the Likud fathers called on him and begged him to come to their rescue. And, indeed, he blew his pipe and the voters followed him to the ballot box. In two election campaigns he improved his party’s lot from 19 to 38 Knesset seats (soon joined by Nathan Sharansky’s three seats).

Did the Likud fathers pay his fee? Nothing of the kind. They turned his life into hell, obstructed him at every turn and, in the end, the Likud Knesset faction turned against its own prime minister. Now the day of revenge has dawned. Sharon is blowing his magic pipe and the Likud voters are following him in droves, accompanied by some Likud fathers themselves. What is left of the party may well be drifting down the river, mourned by few.

Not only the children of the Right but also those of the Left are following the Pied Piper. He is leading them to the mountain that threatens to swallow them up."

more

Apparently, the only one who knows Sharon, even better than Sharon, is Uri Avnery. :eyes:

I disagree with the amount of people killed in the process, but you have to admit that Sharon did destroy the radical Israeli Right and much of the similarly obsolete radical Palestinian Right politically. Plus, he settled the problem of the Gaza Strip rather decisively in the only way truly possible.

I think Avnery is right, the Israeli liberals/Left should assist Sharon with energetic obstructions and objections. He'll undoubtedly take the Israeli center-right for a dive too, the way his politicking uses up his supporters and political 'capital' as rapidly as it does. I'm tempted to say he learned that from Bush Jr.- the way to destroy the obstructing morons is to become their leader, then order them to commit political suicide for the desired political gains...lather, rinse, and repeat until you're out of useful idiots.

more violence. He did destroy homes, crops, livelihoods...

The "solutions" he is carrying out (and now his successors) are being forced on the Palestinian people, who are the real losers here (but not the only ones). His real designs are on the West Bank, that he plans to parcel out mostly to the settlers, and give the leftovers to the Palestinians.

Can anyone imagine the Palestinians not responding to this?

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore- And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
By Langston Hughes