Ariel Sharon

Lieutenant-General Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's army commander, says a number of interesting things:

1. The army is opposed to the route of the "security fence" through the West Bank, because it will cut off many Palestinian villages from their fields and therefore from their livelihoods.

2. The Israeli government is partially responsible for the fall of Mahmoud Abbas, by its "stingy" support for his attempts to end the conflict.

Most far-reaching of all:

3. The government's hardline treatment of Palestinian civilians is counter-productive: this policy intensifies hatred and strengthens the "terror organisations".

Now I wonder: what will those pro-right American Zionists say when they find that an Israeli general disagrees with them?

And will they still support Ariel Sharon so unquestioningly if he's tried for fraud?

But these two items of news are the most hopeful news coming out of the Middle East in ages. The "security wall" is expensive, counterproductive, and hateful: the Israeli government is finally being named and shamed as unwilling to help Palestinians who want to put an end to the conflict: and the Ariel Sharon strategy of crushing the Palestinians until they stop fighting back isn't working. Someone in power in Israel is finally speaking truth.

Next to that, having Ariel Sharon being investigated for corruption is just icing on the cake.