Sharon's triumph is Blair's defeat

[Classical_Liberal]

Sharon's triumph is Blair's defeat

By backing Israel's land grab, Bush has humiliated the prime minister

Jonathan Freedland
Friday April 16, 2004
The Guardian

Most observers of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians threw away their rose-coloured spectacles long ago. But if they were to put on a pair now, they would be stunned by what they see. Ariel Sharon, godfather of Greater Israel, travelling to Washington to win America's blessing for a surrender of territory he fought so hard to keep. Hard-man Sharon, still renowned for his 1982 surge into Lebanon, now preaching pull-out from Gaza. No wonder President Bush embraced Sharon's gesture, hailing it as "historic and courageous".

But take off the rose-coloured glasses and what do you see? Yes, the Israeli prime minister proposes "disengagement" from Gaza, but that is only half the picture. The other half is a promise to keep hold of large chunks of the West Bank, those which now house more than 200,000 Jewish settlers. Sharon sees this as a quid pro quo: Israel gives up Gaza and in return gets to keep choice cuts from the West Bank, not for the time being or until a final peace deal but, as Sharon puts it, "for all eternity".

It is a mark of his achievement that Sharon has persuaded the United States to bless this move. By packaging it as a withdrawal and a painful concession, he has won what few thought possible: US backing for the long-held dream of Sharon and the Zionist right - a permanent Israeli grip on crucial segments of the West Bank.......

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1193403,00.html