Word: ariels
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...Those decisions will be even tougher to make because the second front in Israel's current conflict holds many painful memories. In 1982 the Israeli military, led by then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, occupied a small portion of southern Lebanon, vowing to stay only a short time. They did not withdraw until 2000. Many Israelis view the Lebanon years the way Americans think of Vietnam - as a tragic quagmire no one wishes to revisit...
...still young and untested administration, Golan added, "this is a political nightmare." Olmert himself is operating in the still formidable shadow of his predecessor, Ariel Sharon, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz is working amid great skepticism that he, a man with no previous military leadership experience, is up to the task...
...Behavior like that does not go down well in the U.S. In a speech in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in May that provoked a furious reaction in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney warned Moscow against using energy as "tools of intimidation and blackmail." One conservative Russia watcher, Ariel Cohen of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, says that "Russia had a very good opportunity to become a major alternative exporter [to the U.S.] in 2001 and 2002, but it has missed that opportunity by not behaving as a civilized partner." In Europe, the rhetoric is less pointed...
That, in part, explains the ardor of the Israelis' effort to find Shalit. Olmert, who took office after Ariel Sharon's stroke in January, had little choice but to go into Gaza, given the Israeli public's deep identification with the army, in which most Israeli citizens have served. Lacking any counterpart on the Palestinian side that it trusts, Israel has taken a "shake the trees" approach, putting as much pressure as possible on the government and civilian population in the hopes that someone would turn on Hamas. But it's difficult to see how some Israeli tactics, particularly...
...Ironically, although Ariel Sharon and Olmert's strategy of unilateral withdrawal was specifically designed to bypass the elected Palestinian leadership, it has given an effective veto power to a handful of militants who, by their violent actions, are able to force Israel to reverse itself. The events of recent weeks has exposed the emptiness of the promise that unilateral withdrawals would free Israelis of the moral burden of occupation and make them safer behind a high wall. No wonder Israeli media are reporting that the violence in Gaza has turned Israelis against Olmert's plans for further pullouts from...