TNR: Long live GOP-Kadima friendship!

Sharon's party is brand new, it is not entirely formed. Anyhow reasonably, even Israelis cannot be sure what all this is about. Nevertheless, TNR editors seem to know everything one needs to know about Kadima. How come?

The pragmatic answer is, this editorial is PR operation, free political ad for Kadima party - which is very close to GOP. It simply has nothing to do with independent journalism and regional analysis.

1. TNR. The Pragmatist
Sharon is not a believer in this hoary "peace process." Yet he is also not a believer--at least no longer--in the equally fanciful notion of a "greater Israel" from the Jordan to the sea. He has become, instead, a very practical man who wants to take practical steps that will secure Israel's future as both a democratic and Jewish state. This means that he is willing--even eager--to let as many Palestinians as possible now under Israel's control go free with their houses and their land and do as they wish, so long as their state, such as it is, does not endanger Jewish life. He will not cling to the many dozens of sparsely populated and scattered Israeli communities surrounded by historic Arab districts in the West Bank, and he is prepared to endure the abuse of the far right for uprooting them. In any case, he grasps fully that they would be very difficult to protect.

2. Wiki on Sharon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon

3. Wiki on Kadima: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadima


Note: Just figured out the post subject = article title reqirement. Oops ;-)

A: Martin Peretz.

Martin Peretz is an Israel worshipper, and goes for anything that labels itself "centerist". He's editor-in-chief of TNR. That's why Kadima is getting the descriptions you describe.

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