Doron Rosenblum

Only an outsider would be surprised that the man who is now the right-hand man of the undertaker of Oslo and beating the drums in favor of a war on Iraq ("sending inspectors won't do the job"), is the same man who once opposed the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor, stood beside Yitzhak Rabin to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and made a bid for prime minister on the Meretz ticket.

It is patently clear even to the Palestinians that there is one sole element perpetuating the occupation, distancing their national recrudescence and placing a moral stain on them for eternity, it is blind and indiscriminate terror.

Existential fear is not a pleasant feeling. Yet, on the other hand, is there anything left in Israel's ethos - a positive, meaningful vision that defines our identity as a people?

Arafat lies when he talks about peace and speaks the truth when he promises war; and, in any event, he is not relevant. This conforms conveniently with the narrative we have adopted in the last two years.

In a country in which everything is transient and liquid, and even the earth is unstable underfoot, "the threats of a teachers' strike on the first day of studies" are our cathedral - the only mini-shrine of stability and traditional continuity.

In the atmosphere of the "voluntary military putsch" in which Israeli politics is currently mired, it looks as though the sky's the limit when it comes to the authority and status of the chief of staff and the commanders of the corps.

The few, small demonstrations conducted here and there in the country nowadays sound like a choked whimper emanating from the jaws of a lion: Is there something pathetic about them?

As water was gushing in Europe's streets, we saw on TV several Israeli tourists at Ben-Gurion Airport on their way to Prague, despite the floods. Or maybe because of them.

Is it still possible to dream in Israel of a prime minister who is civil, urbane, polite, with "emotional intelligence" - or is that a lost cause? The security threats and terrorism have contributed to the upgrading of the position of PM in Israel, and to the escalation of the tests of fire that the candidate must pass.

Maybe the secret of Sharon's puzzling popularity, which seems to grow greater the bigger his failures in all areas, is that he is part of the surge of entertainers that has been sweeping over us, oddly in tune with the wave of terror attacks, job losses and general sense of despair.

Well, no one expected Haifa's Mayor, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amram Mitzna, but he emerged with the announcement that he would be running for the chairmanship of the Labor Party.

The Sharon government is not even trying to pretend that it is doing everything, but everything, which includes seizing every thread of the slightest prospect of a settlement or a cease-fire, in order to prevent the killing and risk to its citizens - as any normal government would do in a properly run country.

To the very last day of his military service this week, Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz remains one of the stealthiest and most cunning public figures in Israel's history. He has managed to gain the support of all political parties in spite of - or maybe thanks to - the catastrophic security situation.

The whole Labor Party faction is made up of "tomorrow people." It's unlikely that such a concentration of "tomorrow people" can be found anywhere else on the planet.

A grotesque jig was done this weekend around the photograph of a Palestinian toddler dressed up as a suicide bomber - replete with an explosive belt, a bandanna, the works - which the IDF released and disseminated.

To suppress the terrible realization that we are losing the battle against terrorism, we use more force, we personalize the fight, and attribute to Arafat black magical powers. The magic solution is therefore obvious - if we get rid of Arafat, the conflict will dissolve at once into thin air.

One way or the other, to paraphrase the lying campaign slogan that "Only Sharon will bring peace and security," we can say that "Only Sharon will bring adaptation to whatever was incomprehensible and intolerable for others."

This week Israel has unexpectedly moved the finger from Arafat to Syria, blaming it for "direct responsibility" for the terror attack in Megiddo. But, a novice might wonder, if Syria is to blame, and maybe Iraq and Iran as well, what's the point in taking vengeance on Arafat's bedpan?

More or less Sharon's "policy" (if the series of weekly spins can be dignified by that word) can always be summed up as "the same thing and even more - only with media spin." Not only does everything revert to square one, it also gets worse.

In good times the catastrophes and mistakes of the past seem like distant memories, but in bad times they appear to be taking place at this very moment. Thus, the War of Independence never seemed closer, and come to think of it, neither did the upheavals of 1929.

The media covered the possible dimensions of the "mega terror attack," prevented almost by accident at Pi Glilot, with the same style and headline size that it lavished a few months ago on terror strikes that claimed two casualties.

Sharon is now trapped in a paradox: to personally survive, he has to show that he doesn't care about his personal survival. To succeed, he must fail. Moreover, the more it looks as if his moves are unplanned, hot-headed, whimsical and directionless, the more we're convinced that it's being done "for the good of the state" and not, heaven forbid, for personal reasons.

The prime minister's entourage on his Washington visit this week was augmented by both the national chief of police and the "file" that was prepared by cabinet minister Danny Naveh. Accordingly, it looked more like a delegation of the State Prosecutor's Office than a policy mission in the spirit of the Sharon government's "political horizon."

Sharon's talent for manipulation is nearly hypnotic. He manages to paralyze his opponents at critical moments, and to turn every move - no matter how delusional - into "the unavoidable."

Nowadays, when every chance chunk of the past looks more encouraging that any glimspe of the future, the lack of hope is no longer a question of luxury or mood: It's a strategic-existential matter.