Ariel Sharon: An icon in our times

In recent years, Israeli politics has more or less, been the Ariel Sharon show. Few others if any, have really made an impact. Even former prime ministers still active on the political scene pale into insignificance in comparison.

In Israel, Sharon's cult of personality out-grew the system. In the Likud party he accused all around him of a political narrow mindedness incompatible with his unique broad vision for the future. What many say here, if not in public then certainly in private is that Israel will now be left lacking a leader that can provide the stability and direction that the country so vitally needs.

The best peace makers are those who once also knew to how make war; and Sharon was no stranger to the battlefield. His bulldozing reputation instilled the fear and trust of so many in the political arena. He was all at once, a staunch defender of the Israeli nation and also, a nemesis to the Arab world. But this one time war horse, had mellowed, and in his latter years developed something that so many others must have envied; a vision. He was the man who intended to set the final borders of the state, and impose in his own formidable way, his ideas, whether the region liked them or not.

The controversial disengagement plan saw him depicted as both hero and villain. The blue ribbons screamed their applause and admiration while the orange camp tore their clothes, cheated and dejected. Many suspected, that the withdrawal, like a bulldozer, would not be stopped by anyone or anything; many people tried many things but those pundits were right.

Sharon is not the only leader in the West to have been re elected, Blair in Britain is serving his 3rd term and George Bush is serving his 2nd in the United States, but neither of these figures or any other in the international system, have anywhere near the iconic status that gave Sharon such presence on both the national and international stage.

Many Israelis never believed that they would ever willingly vote for Ariel Sharon, nevertheless, in the shadow and ashes of the failed Oslo Accords, he secured a landslide victory. The bullish manner in which he rode the country through the intifada against a torrent of international criticism meant that the nation slowly began to relate to Ariel Sharon as more than a politician. Somewhere during those years, the nation began to rest on his shoulders and certainly before 10.30pm on Wednesday night this was still very much the case.
Sharon, didn't need a platform to convince his many supporters. His face on a poster was enough to give his party Kadima, all of the direction it needed. This will now be playing on the minds of those Kadima party members, that left their natural homes on the right or the left to join Sharon's new party.

Many will now suggest that Kadima was built so much on Sharon's cult of personality, and without him there would be little left to attract the voters. Kadima, possibly under the leadership of Ehud Olmert, or maybe someone else would no have to present a party platform that can re assure the supporters that have given the party such a lead in recent opinion polls.

Many pragmatists will quote the old saying that tells of the graveyard full of people of whom it was said were irreplaceable. But in Israel that is just the point; so many will be scratching their heads this week and asking, from where can such charisma, such direction; such a leader emanate?

AR