The monster is dead. Wish it made a difference but his replacement is worse

Doesn't the bible teach us not to talk ill of the dead?

The best thing Sharon did was form Kadima and stop kowtowing to the warmongers in Israel. Sadly, the Likudniks and settlers (and the settlers aren't far removed from Klansmen in their attitudes and actions) call the shots today, and as long as they do, there's not going to be peace.

@3, I shit on your bible. Also, I'm not sure it even says that. Since you apparently believe in it, why don't you find your own citation?

@3: Sorry, try again!

@12 - The victims of colonial land grabbing always like to die according to people like you. Spare us the reality of the ethics deficit swamp you appear to live in.

3, this is a great example of the rare combination of arrogance and patronization that stenches modern American Christianity. One, as has been pointed out, it's not the bible at all. Second, neither the speaker nor the subject are in any way Christian, so your morality is completely misplaced. Thirdly, the judgment and accusation behind it belongs to a warrior religion, rather than a religion of peace.

Better late than never... I guess.

@17: False. The Camp David accords failed because Israel wouldn't grant the Palestinians the right of return and the Palestinians wanted land to be ceded before they dismantled the terror groups.

@15: How about just saying that it's bad manners to speak ill of the dead?

@17 - As if refusing to make a deal in 2000 would justify continuing land grabs and bad faith in negotiating. Your logic is just about as bankrupt as your ethics.

@20 Sure, let's get rid of international law just because you think might makes right. Your sewer is overflowing.

@23 - It's patently false as shown by the large number of disputes without military solution and the short-lived nature of most outcomes reached at gun point (defunct colonial empires, including Bismark's, cannot say hello).

"Israel" at any given time is the administration in power, or rather the coalition in power. The people "Israel" are just as varied in their political opinions as Americans; there are a number of peace groups in Israel. Apparently no one wants to remember that many of us Americans did not agree with Bush -- who was "America" at the time, just as Netanyahu is "Israel" now -- starting two wars, neither of which have ended.

@23, Sharon was not a great statesman. However, he did change over time. Netanyahu hasn't and won't.

About time. Sharon, calculating political opportunist that he was, deliberately visited the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem, knowing full well it was a provocative visit. Because he was also accompanied by a large armed guard unit, and because Palestinians took umbrage to this man of violence visiting the area of the Temple Mount, stones were thrown, a riot ensued which led to sympathetic Palestinian riots across the Occupied Territories, which led to the 2nd Intifada. Sharon rode the ensuing unrest and demands for law and order into the Prime Ministers office.