By Ami Isseroff*
January 31, 2001

There are still 6 days left before the elections in Israel. It is, experts say, almost completely certain that Ariel Sharon will be elected Prime Minister, bringing confrontational policies at a time when conciliation is sorely needed. This critical stage in the history of the Middle East is being contemplated with an eerie equanimity by Israeli voters. The near-certainty that Ariel Sharon will be elected on a platform that promises to end hopes for peace leaves Israeli voters apathetic, as though the numbers of the opinion polls are some magic spell decreed by fate.

We should not fool ourselves into thinking that because Sharon may have mellowed, his election will not be a serious set back for the possibility of peace. His supporters do not see coexistence as a primary national goal, to say the least, and he will need to do the bidding of his supporters to stay in power.

Sharon's election will send a signal to Israel's neighbors - "Israel is not interested in peace." Israelis should try to imagine the  how we would feel if Sheikh Yassin, leader of the Hamas, were elected to lead the Palestine National Authority. Try to remember who is likely to be Minister of Education in Sharon's government, and what the next generation will be learning, or who will be Minister of Housing, and where they will build houses.

Maybe Sharon is not so bad after all say some, though most likely he is. The slogans say "Sharon will bring peace." He brought us peace before. The 1982 war in Lebanon was called "The War of the Peace of Galilee," wasn't it?
So we already know the taste of Sharon peace.

The madness that has been overtaking the Middle East for several months has now lead us to this. We contemplate with equanimity the prospect that a government that will probably bring about a major cataclysm. We excuse our apathy on the grounds that perhaps it will not, perhaps it will only be slightly worse than before.

Ehud Barak has not been Mr Ideal Prime Minister for peace, to put it mildly. However, we have only these two alternatives - a flawed aspiration to peace versus a frank aspiration to something quite different. All those who want to punish Barak, to build a peace alternative should understand what the stakes are. Staying home or voting blank ballots will not build a peace alternative. To Mr. average Israeli, the bigger the margin for Sharon, the bigger to mandate for confrontation. Mr. Blank Ballot is not running.
Those who want to punish Ehud Barak may find very soon that they have punished all of us, and punished peace, and that we are all suffering the punishment.

Re-electing Barak is not not likely to bring peace in the near future, but a big victory for the right may mean the end of hopes for peace for many, many years to come. Settlers and their backers will ensure that the present impasse continues, prompting further extremism on the Palestinian side, and further escalation on the Israeli side.

Electing Sharon will punish Barak for the 13 Arab civilians killed in the riots, by opening the possibility that there will be hundreds more casualties. It will be a great victory for the extremists of both sides, who will accompany the  funerals with chants of "We told you we were right."