Yoel Marcus

"At the age of 75, I have no aspirations but one - to lead this nation down a new path of tranquility, prosperity and peace." This remark, with which Sharon opened his inaugural speech at the Knesset, was puzzling.

Sharon, now 75, has proven that he hasn't lost his manipulative touch: On the election stump, he went on about the need for a unity government, all the while steering it toward the door.

Sharon got the country from Sharon in worse condition than he got it from Barak in 2001. But now he understands that without a political solution, the economy will collapse; that there won't be a political solution without a Palestinian state; and that there won't be a Palestinian state without territorial concessions.

This prime minister of ours has a split personality. He's a kind of Dr. Arik and Mr. Sharon. When he wants to, he can be cynical, tough, stubborn, abusive, brutal and short-tempered. But when he wants to, he can also be a real charmer: complimentary and sweet, friendly and polite.

By all the signs, Sharon is planning to drag out the work of forming a government until the American attack on Iraq. That way he can take advantage of the state of emergency to hook Labor and establish a national unity government.

The contribution of the political system to sowing panic is also nothing to sneeze at. The government projects unreliability. One minute it raises the anxiety level and the next minute it lowers it, depending on its needs. Visiting the Home Front Command, Sharon said one thing, and later that same day he said the opposite.

The war on Iraq hasn't started yet, and I already feel like I need a drink of water. And you know why? Because of Major General Amos Gilad, appointed to the brand-new but bizarre job of "national explainer."

The war on Iraq is not our war. We are not involved in it, and the US is not including us. We would be doing ourselves a favor if we quit babbling about it. But if Saddam does attack us again, there is no longer any justification for turning the other cheek or letting ourselves be his punching bag.

The big riddle is what Sharon plans to do with his election victory. Will he be the man who brings us an agreement with painful concessions, or will he go down in history as the guardian of a Greater Israel?

On the night of his big win, Ariel Sharon reminded me of the kid in the movie "Home Alone," who looks in the mirror in the morning all joyful and happy, and then starts screaming his lungs out when he realizes he's alone.

A little bit of advice to Sharon's most loyal friends, advisers and supporters: Don't brag, don't dance on the rooftops, don't drink too much champagne. The election exercise could yet turn out to be Sharon's Pyrrhic victory.

They used to say that Golda Meir got a country in good shape and gave it back in bad shape. Sharon got a country in bad shape and is handing back a total wreck. But if the surveys are right and he wins by a landslide anyway, the only thing we can say is: The magician is dead, long live the magician.

As zero hour approaches and some of you voters out there are still confused and undecided, this it the time for me to adopt the approach of Ronald Reagan during his televised debate with Jimmy Carter.

The Israeli voter wants Sharon, but isn't sure that he can solve our problems, hates Labor, but wants it to be a partner in the next government, wants the state to knock the Arabs' block off, but doesn't want the extreme right in the gov't.

"Corruption and thumbing its nose at public opinion have become a way of life for the government." The passage was penned by yours truly in June 1992, shortly before the Likud was defeated at the polls. But back then, there was an alternative: the party that was voted into power.

It's hard to write a word of criticism about the PM these days without being swamped by angry letters: letters packed with threats like "Traitor - your days are numbered;" letters full of insults and vulgar curses, from "shmuck" to "Nazi".

In a normal country, the first thing expected of a prime minister suspected of bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust, who is being questioned by the police, is to step aside, right then and there.

Over the next 20 days, Israel will be listening to jingles composed by the finest songwriters and advertising pros. The country is collapsing - and they'll be serenading us with promises and dishing out dirt in rhymed couplets. Notice how popular the word 'collapsing' has become in the last few months...

Shinui, if it keeps growing, may have an impact on the structure and policy of the government-to-be: Likud, Labor and Shinui, minus the Haredim. If Yosef (Tommy) Lapid measures his steps carefully, he may become a national legend: a messiah who arrives not on a donkey but straight from Popolitika, and secular, too.

Shinui, if it keeps growing, may have an impact on the structure and policy of the government-to-be: Likud, Labor and Shinui, minus the Haredim. If Yosef (Tommy) Lapid measures his steps carefully, he may become a national legend: a messiah who arrives not on a donkey but straight from Popolitika, and secular, too.

Where is the responsibility of these people who talk about spiraling terror, rampant corruption, economic disaster and biological warheads? In what capacity are they sounding the alarm? Who do they think they are? Danny Roup, who talks about the weather, but never does anything to change it?

One month before the elections, Ariel Sharon has performed a surprising somersault: He has put the establishment of a Palestinian state on the agenda of the government he expects to head.

Everything begins and ends with the ass-covering of the leadership, the cynics say. Better to conjure up the worst-case scenario and be wrong. Israel's decision-makers are haunted by the lessons of the Yom Kippur War, where the opposite happened. Meanwhile they are driving the public into a panic.

Mitzna's campaign staff has decided not to import spin doctors from America, like Bibi, Barak and Sharon. Instead, they have hired two local psychologists to accompany the election campaign from beginning to end.

Sharon has never been fanatical about telling the truth. He was not a disciplined soldier. He is the only defense minister who has ever been sacked. Two or three times already, he's been finished politically. But this guy is a roly-poly: He bounces right back.