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Analysis: Could Sharon's Government Continue Peace Process?
Israel's hawk Ariel Sharon became the Jewish state's fifth prime minister in six years Wednesday night after the parliament approved the formation of his broad- based government.
The new coalition is composed of seven parties across Israel's political spectrum, including the left-wing Labor party and the extreme right-wing faction of Yisrael Beiteinu-National Union. As a result, it controls 73 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
The investiture of Sharon, a controversial political figure, drew special attention from observers around the world, as they are concerned if and how the new government would change the process of peace-making between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Sharon has been the most hated figure in the Arab world, notorious for his dirty role in the massacres in the Palestinian refugee camps near Beirut during Israel's invasion of Lebanon in the early 1980s.
He has been widely blamed for setting off the five-month-old bloody clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians with his provocative visit to a disputed shrine in Jerusalem late September. The violence has killed over 400 people, mostly Palestinians, and wounded 15,000 others.
But judging from the makeup of the cabinet and its coalition agreement, the Sharon government will not necessarily be the terminator of the peace process.
Sharon has declared that his government is committed to peace, and said he has grown flexible toward the peace process which he vehemently opposed as time went by.
He is fully aware of the fact that even today, more than five months into the spiral of violence, there are 60 percent Israelis supporting the peace process, and that the only way to "restore security to Israeli people," as he promised on the election night, must be through negotiations with Arab neighbors.
It was reported that he has sent secret emissaries to explain his peace stands to Arab leaders in a bid to dispel their doubts. This move appeared neutralized Arab reaction to his triumph and laid a foundation for possible resumption of peace talks in the future.
In addition, by bringing the Labor party, the largest party with 23 seats in the parliament, into his government, Sharon is now duty-bound. The Labor party, which eventually decided to join the coalition after a heated debate, will not let Sharon pass if he abandons the peace process.
According to the coalition agreement between Likud and Labor, Israel should continue the peace talks with the Palestinians on the basis of the land-for-peace principle and the United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.
It was also proclaimed in writing that Israel will not establish new Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; Israel will make painful compromises, including a withdrawal from the occupied territories; Israel will seek a final peace deal with Arab countries to finally end their century-old conflict.
However, all these are just one side of the coin. Sharon is faced with a strong right-wing faction in his coalition, which controls a massive 28 seats in the parliament and is opposed to the peace process with Palestinians.
The ultra-Orthodox Shas party, the Russian immigrants' Yisrael Ba'aliya party, and the Yisrael Beiteinu-National Union, will surely use all their weights to prevent Sharon from making further concessions in the peace talks.
Moreover, Sharon has conditioned the resumption of peace talks with Palestinians on an end to the violence whereas the Palestinians demanded a lifting of Israeli siege of Palestinian self-rule areas and transfer of tax money it owes to the Palestinians National Authority. To satisfy both sides seems to be a non-starter.
Sharon also will have to tackle the extreme militant elements from both sides who do not want the peace process to be back on track, if he is determined to go along the path of peace.
It is not rare in Israeli history that a right-winger broke the taboo of making peace with the Arabs. Menachem Begin, who signed the first Israel-Arab agreement with Egypt in 1979, and Yitzhak Shamir, who finally agreed to attend the landmark Madrid peace conference in 1991, were examples.
Will Sharon follow the steps toward peace? He is so hoped, at least.
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