Sharon is Dead...

No, he's not, in fact it seems he's getting better. But politically speaking he almost certainly is, few will now invest their vote in a leader who's suffered two successive strokes.

To Sharon's detractors both in the Palestinian camp and on the right hand side of Kadima, this may seem good news, at least at first sight. Many Palestinians have never forgotten Sabra and Shatila and the Temple Mount incident, the latter which sparked off the second Intifada. And to gangster politicians like Netanyahu, it will seem like a golden occasion to see Kadim off.

And we mustn't forget some of this man's previous utterances and the fact that he made the use of the words "terror" and "terrorist" in conjunction with every time he used the word "Palestinian(s)" his trademark. As a result of this constant indoctrination, the average conservative American is convinced that the Palestinian people are nothing but a bunch of terrorists, who've called the current state of affairs entirely upon themselves.

But in particular the Palestinians should realise that Sharon was paradoxically perhaps their best chance to a lasting solution in the form of a two state solution. Sharon formed Kadima in response to Likud's increasing fossilisation and complete intransigence regarding attempts to bring progress to the peace process.

Sharon's actual plans for Kadima in terms of concrete policy weren't known at the time of the second stroke and now we may well never know. It's more than probable that the eternal political survivor would have made policy regarding Israel/Palestine on the hoof anyway. Sharon would almost certainly have been capable of forging the solid beginning of a lasting peace, had he so wished to do so.

To Kadima may fall the spoils of a sympathy victory vote. But will they be able to turn this into real political progress? Wait and see...

Keywords: Sharon, Kadim, Israel, Palestine, Terrorism