Written off, Sharon prepares return

Late in an election contest that has seemed more like a two-month long victory lap for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he was asked abo...

Late in an election contest that has seemed more like a two-month long victory lap for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he was asked about the times when he has been written off as a failure, a disgrace, a spent force in the country8217;s political life. 8216;8216;They buried me too soon,8217;8217; the white-haired ex-general crowed in triumph. 8216;8216;Or maybe not deep enough!8217;8217;

At 74, Sharon is the consummate survivor, on the eve of yet another affirmation of his remarkable ability to overcome a tarnished and turbulent past. Heading into Tuesday8217;s parliamentary elections, he has marshalled the solid support of the electorate, including many people who never thought they would cast a ballot for him.

Weekend polls indicated that Sharon8217;s conservative Likud Party will easily win the largest share of seats in the 120-member Knesset garnering as many as 34. Likud8217;s chief rivals, the left-leaning Labour Party and the resolutely secular Shinui, were seen as fighting it out for a distant second, with each of them in the 18 or 19-seat range. Those results would leave Likud in a position to again form a coalition government with Sharon as prime minister.

But the outcome is viewed by many as not so much a victory for Sharon but a reflection of fear and despair in a country beset by internal woes and external threats.

Analysts say, voters don8217;t hold Sharon responsible for either the economic swoon or the impasse with the Palestinians, although he has been able to make little headway against either during nearly two years in office. The prevailing sentiment is that without him, things would have been worse. 8216;8216;We have only Sharon to vote for 8212; only Sharon,8217;8217; said Mordechai ben Lulu, a 75-year-old Moroccan-born barber. 8216;8216;It8217;s true the situation has been difficult while he has been leading us, but we have no choice.8217;8217;

Over the past two years, Sharon has presided over some of the harshest Israeli measures against Palestinians, including a near-total reoccupation of the West Bank, coupled with a campaign of mass arrests of Palestinians and the 8216;8216;targeted killing8217;8217; of dozens of militant leaders.

There have been indications that a second Sharon term could see, if anything, an escalation of the military campaign in the Palestinian territories.

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Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said on radio Sunday that the government was considering seizing the entire Gaza Strip, rather than confining Israeli troops largely to pockets surrounding Jewish settlements. Israelis, by and large, seem convinced that such steps are the only possible response to attacks and suicide bombings, by groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, that have claimed hundreds of lives.

8216;8216;Whoever wants to live in peace with us: Welcome,8217;8217; said Sharon supporter Yitzhak Shimon. LATWP