• As we pray for the recovery of Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon, we must already recognize that Israel has lost one of its
    greatest leaders. Even those who would bitterly deny Sharon’s greatness
    in the sense of leading the nation in the right direction cannot
    dispute the dimensions of the decisions he led the nation through,
    which are perhaps unmatched since his mentor David Ben-Gurion’s day. – Jerusalem Post.
  • While Ariel Sharon is on his deathbed, public discourse is already full
    of discussion of his legacy. The heads of Kadima are adopting his
    worldview as theirs and in associating themselves with it they are
    seeking the public’s trust. Lacking the leader himself, his political
    cohorts rise to speak for him. They pretend to know what he would do if
    he had continued to function, and they ask the voters to continue
    supporting them by claiming that they are continuing on his path. That
    is expected and even legitimate behaviour under the circumstances in
    which Kadima finds itself. However, there is a need for ideological
    honing and more credibility, because the question of what Sharon’s
    legacy is remains open. – Uzi Benziman, Haaretz.



  • Mr Sharon struck such a powerful chord with the Israelis’ craving for
    security and stability that he might well have been able to bulldoze
    his people into the future as he saw it. But Mr. Sharon’s massive
    second stroke means that both Kadima and what passes for the Israeli
    political centre must now find a political vision that revolves around
    more than just Ariel Sharon. – The New York Times



  • A leader identifies the right path for his
    country, one that is not necessarily the shortest or the least painful,
    and encourages his people to take it. Ariel Sharon did this in spite of
    thousands of difficulties, and his people understood it. The decision
    to evacuate the settlements and the army from the Gaza Strip was a
    courageous and extraordinary step that resulted in protest and brought
    him great pain. Only a statesman of his stature could have dared take
    this step, which aroused admiration on the Palestinian side as well. – Silvio Berlusconi, Haaretz.



  • Most Israelis came to believe that Ariel Sharon was the only person
    able to solve the Palestinian conflict. Alternatively, if the conflict
    were to continue, he was the man they trusted to manage it in a manner
    that assured Israel’s stability and security. This view of Sharon is only partly correct. – Henry Siegman, The Observer.



  • The political jockeying surrounding the evident
    political departure of the man who was by far the most dominant figure
    in our national life has proceeded with surprising restraint and
    orderliness. The senior figures who joined Sharon in Kadima seem to
    have relatively quickly consolidated around Acting Prime Minister Ehud
    Olmert, rather than launching a race for the leadership of the party. – Jerusalem Post
  • While the al-Jazeera satellite channel was
    airing the jubilant utterances of radical Arabs over Sharon’s stroke,
    more moderate Arabs appearing on the rival channel al-Arabiyah
    acknowledged that the Israeli leader had become the Palestinians’ “most
    serious partner for peace”. – Amir Taheri, The Australian.
  • He was determined to use this power to
    change the
    political landscape of Israel altogether and introduce a presidential
    system, which would have given him an all-powerful position, like that
    enjoyed by Juan Peron in his heyday in Argentina. Then, at long last,
    he would be able to realize his historic
    mission of laying the tracks on which Israel would run for generations,
    as David Ben-Gurion had done before him. And then, just when it
    seemed that nothing could stop him anymore, with cruel suddenness, his
    own body betrayed him. – Uri Avnery, Middle East Times