Ariel Sharon
| Published date | 01 March 2005 |
| Date | 01 March 2005 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200506000117 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MOVERS
&
SHAKERS
MICHAEL BELL
Ariel
Sharon
AIEL
SHARON
BECAME
PRIME
MINISTER
of
Israel on 6 February
2001 in a landslide popular vote.
That
victory was consolidated in the
parliamentary elections
of28
January 2003 when the right-wing block
he headed won 69
of
120 seats in the Israeli knesset. Sharon, a burly,
charismatic,
and
controversial former parachute commander,
had
good reason to be satisfied as he took the oath
of
office.
The
moment
he had spent his life preparing for had come and he was aware of,
and
willing to face, the inevitable crises. Like all larger-than-life figures,
Sharon is complex: part hero, part hellion. Always in the forefront
of
his mind, however, was the need
of
his people, the Jewish people, for
security.
That
is his leitmotif.
It
is the cause to which he has devoted his
life.
Any Israeli leader is beset with challenges rare for politicians else-
where. Israel has a vibrant and often unrestrained polity. It is a trou-
bled society attempting to integrate culturally diverse Jewish commu-
nities ingathered from the world's four corners. Israelis are saddled
with aproportional voting system which yields a multiplicity
of
single
interest parties, their metaphorical knives constantly at the prime min-
ister's throat.
The
Jewish state has neighbours who, if they accept its
Michael
Bellisa
former
ambassador
of
Canada
to
Egypt,
Jordan,
the
Palestinian
territories,
and
Israel.
Heis
currently
the
senior
scholar
for
diplomacy
at theMunk
Centre
for
International
Studies
at the
University
of'Toronto.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
2004-2005
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