Yediot Aharonot

In Israeli discourse, Israel is always presented as the side exercising restraint in its conflict with the Palestinians.

Sharon travelled to the USA as a hero of peace, as if he had already evacuated Gaza and only the follow-up remained to be worked out. What has completely disappeared from the public agenda is what is happening meanwhile in the West Bank.

The International Court of Justice has determined that Israel "has the right, and indeed the duty, to…protect the life of its citizens" but that "the measures taken are bound nonetheless to remain in conformity with applicable international law."

How can we explain the conjurer's trick by which Sharon has turned into the darling of the Israeli peace camp?

At first, it was hard to concentrate on the content. Attention drifted to the terrified eyes hopping between the multi-syllabled words, and to the mouth mechanically chewing the measured sentences planted there by the President's relentless operators.