- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Support
for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sunk to its lowest level since
he took office and commentators said his days in power may be numbered
as people lose faith in his ability to end a Palestinian revolt.
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- A poll published on Friday showed for the first time
a majority of voters are dissatisfied with the former general's performance
as they look for a way out of violence which has killed more than 1,100
people, nearly 300 of them Israelis.
-
- Political commentators said Sharon's year-old tenure
could be doomed if the right-wing leader, caught between conflicting
pressures
for a carrot and a stick, fails to deliver either a peace programme or
a winning military strategy.
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- "There is no doubt that a dramatic
development...whether
a decisive military victory or a surprise political manoeuvre can halt
the trend (of declining support)," Israeli political commentator Chemi
Shalev wrote in the daily Maariv.
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- "But at the current rate, if the situation continues
as is, Sharon is guaranteed to go down blazing," he said.
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- Some commentators said Sharon's support could be further
undermined if he is seen to drag his feet on a Saudi peace proposal that
offers Israelis the tantalising prospect of normal relations with the Arab
world if they give up land captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
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- Maariv's Media Watch poll showed 53 percent of a sample
590 Israelis surveyed this week were dissatisfied with Sharon's performance
against 42 percent who were happy with it.
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- Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said the prime minister
was aware of the polls, which he described as "an expression of the
public's mood rather than its solid opinion" of Sharon.
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- "We are in a difficult war, one that doesn't end
in a few days or weeks. So the public expresses its mood and the mood is
down," Gissin said.
-
- Political analyst Joseph Alpher said some Israelis were
beginning to point a finger of blame directly at Sharon for military
tactics
that appear to have worsened hostilities rather than enhanced
security.
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- "The fact he has no political strategy is part and
parcel of this overall impression," Alpher said.
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- "If you believe he doesn't want a peace process,
then you're more likely to begin to see some of his military tactics as
designed to keep that process at arms length."
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- LANDSLIDE ELECTION
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- Sharon won a landslide in the February 2001 election
on promises to end Palestinian attacks on Israelis. The Palestinian
uprising
against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip erupted the
previous September after peace talks stalled.
-
- His approval rating has slid steadily from above 60
percent
last December, when a Palestinian ceasefire call brought a relative lull
in the violence.
-
- A fresh wave of bloodshed has poured over the conflict
following a Palestinian attack on an Israeli army post and Israel's killing
of a leading Palestinian militant.
-
- The series of Palestinian attacks and Israeli raids and
air strikes that followed have resulted in a more devastating level of
violence and an accelerating Israeli death toll.
-
- While Sharon's other right-wing cabinet ministers urge
him to take an even tougher military line against the Palestinians, a
reinvigorated
left wing in his unity coalition accuses him of deliberately missing
opportunities
for a truce and peace talks.
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- The Saudi initiative that has gained strong international
interest could put Sharon in a new bind.
-
- The Maariv poll said 42 percent of Israelis surveyed
backed the plan floated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Sharon and other
right-wing members of his government oppose a return to pre-1967 lines
which they view as a security threat.
-
- "Abdullah's initiative is another instance of
evidence
that is going to reduce Sharon's popularity...and reinforce the growing
sense that there is a way out...but Sharon is not prepared to take
it,"
said Alpher.
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