The Great Zigzagger

Yoel Marcus has an excellent column on Ha'aretz today, explaining the newest twist of the phenomenally complex Arik Sharon. It's worth a read if you have 3 minutes, I promise. Here's an exerpt:

Sharon, who has foisted the blame on his superiors throughout his career, has finally discovered that the buck stops at his door. Or to use his words, "you see things from here that you don't see from there." But with a sly devil like Sharon, nothing is as simple as it appears. There is no question that he is very anxious not to aggravate Bush, who is having enough trouble in these preelection times after no weapons of mass destruction were discovered in Iraq and the situation there is getting complicated. Bush is looking for a quick fix in our neighborhood. It's no coincidence that the moment we agreed to the road map, which was literally forced on us, the president rushed to set up two summits in the region. We're talking about a timetable that is meant to produce a temporary Palestinian state by the end of the year. And when Bush puts the heat on, you don't play around. But behind this visible motive, there may also be a hidden one: Sharon is going through a maturation process and beginning to digest the bitter truth that he cannot eradicate terror and improve the economic situation without a political solution. His role models among his contemporaries are Peres, Dayan, Rabin and Weizman - all of them hawks who went down in history as peacemakers. As someone who wants to join their ranks, he is preparing public opinion for giving up parts of the country and making those famous "painful concessions." What he will be judged by, of course, are the results.

I'll be so happy if Bush achieves a peaceful solution by being his blunt, unsuave self. All of Clinton's slick greasiness will be avenged.