Well said, Torie. (Hey, we agree on something!)
Perhaps Sharon will fail and/or fall, but it won't be because he just sat on his ass. He is doing what can be done. I suspect Israel will live on long after this particular pestilence has passed.
My prayers are with you Israel.
You're right. They should just disintegrate the place and get it over with.
The idea that the IDF can root out the bad guys house to house is a chimera. Right on!
The idea that this will tame the Palestinians ignores their mindset. Also true, although noone has never advanced that idea.
It is doomed to failure I suspect, I am sure that your suspicion is correct.
All of the above is undoubtedly true but does not address the real reasons for these (in-, semi-)actions. The unanswered question is, how does one lead a populous with no resolve?
This very question is even more applicable here, in the U.S. Long ago, in mid-1980s, I was saying largely the same thing about leaving unpunished the hijackings, the bombing in Lebanon, later the same about the WTC bombing. My knowledge of the specifics is nowhere near the expertise of people like Pipes who were arguing, even before Congress, that we had to act at the time.
Instead, the country preferred to live in the la-la-land, having convinces itself that it won the Cold War. In 1992, it elected the president who sang it a lullaby, thereby making sure that it would not awaken from its sleep. Now we are paying for all of this.
In sum, the leader's vision and knowledge are not sufficient: he cannot be better than the country he leads. You ascribe to Sharon the illnesses of the country, the population of which is tired of being a hair-length from death. Once tired, it wonders, "There must be another way." In addition, the very same affliction that has befallen the West appears there as well, namely, the multiculturalism and other reincarnations of the Marxist view of the world. Just as Europe prides itself in being post-Christian, the leftist in Israel speak and write about post-Zionist and post-Jewish society.
In all of these places --- Europe, Israel, the U.S. --- the net result is the same: lack of proportionate resolve. In the case of Israel, a tiny country, it is aggravated by the dependence on more powerful entities, such as the U.S. and EU, which tell Israelis what (not) to do.
How much of the above-mentioned factors are under Sharon's control? Your blame should be slightly diffused, thus.
I think you are right. Furthermore I think that this is the INTENTION of the Israelis. I think that this is the last step of this government, and that when it falls, Bibi (who appears to be settling his personal arrangements so that he will be ready to assume office) will take over on a 'no more Mr. Nice Guy (Sharon)' basis.
He will then deal with the Palestinians in the way they must be dealt with, which is one of three possibilities:
A) Kill them;
B) Enslave them;
C) Expell them
I vote for C, but will not argue with the other two.