Wow, I go out to study for a few hours and all sorts of stuff hits the fan in Israel.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will quit his ruling Likud ahead of snap elections and form a new centrist party.
[snip]
Sharon will tear apart the movement he helped found to break from the far-right Likud “rebels” who opposed his withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip and potentially free him to give up more land that Palestinians seek for a state.
But the 77-year-old’s gamble is possibly the biggest of a military and political career built on risk-taking and polls indicate it is uncertain he can turn the popularity of the Gaza pullout into electoral victory.
Dumping the hardliners and moving towards the center. Good move. I hope it succeeds.
It will be interesting to see how the tinfoil hat crew responds. So many of them are convinced that Sharon is some kind of evil puppet master; I wonder how they’ll spin this?