polarity shattered

There is a great article in January's Monde Diplo by Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, about the recent dramatic shift in Israelo-palestine politics.
Basically the situation has been reversed, with the palestinians confused divided and hesitant, and Israel opinion solidifying around Sharon which is becoming an incarnation of the state, as the rais Arafat was. The situation had been moving at least in one direction, of course not fair to the palestinian but moving at least, with Abbas the negociator left powerless and lost.

Many would say that Sharon's moving to the centre is a sham given his past behaviour, but an optimist take would be that he has been forced to incorporate the large movement of public opinion (mostly on the left) in favor of a better solution. This is how democracy should work after all. It's stupid to reduce Israeli opinion to the vocal and insane emanations of the hardline likudniks.

But just after this masterful analysis was published, it will probably be thrown off-course totally by Sharon's huge stroke. 8 hours surgery! Even if he comes out unscarred a lot of trust will be lost...