Standing at the back of a compound in Tel Aviv, I heard Arial Sharon declare united Jerusalem ‘the eternal capital of the Jewish people.’ Earlier he had gone into the Al Aqsa compound with hundreds of Israeli police officers. The youth of Jewish seminaries in attendance broke into applause with chants of ‘death to Arabs.’ Sharon had won the elections on a pledge to crush the Palestinian uprising. I was there for BBC to cover the second Intifada.
This time, I watch on television as another prime minister plays with fire.
Another election. Another aftermath.
Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a government after recent polls and faces charges of corruption and fraud and possibly prison if he falls from power. Over the past two weeks, he has consolidated the right wing as a support base, vowing to continue air strikes in Gaza resulting in over 200 deaths already and intense, spiralling destruction.
