An editorial at The Star remembers the stroke that changed South African politics, concluding that the situation in Israel is very different: A stroke of bad luck.
| It was a stroke - to then President P W Botha - which opened the way for F W de Klerk to become president and break the South African logjam. But the brain haemorrhage which laid low Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last week was different. It was more as though De Klerk, rather than Botha, had been struck down. Of course they are in many ways very different. But Sharon, like De Klerk, had the strong conservative credentials necessary to reassure his nervous compatriots and coax them along the uncharted path towards peace and reconciliation with their ancient enemies. [...] Sharon the leader was hard and unlovable, and many Palestinians have welcomed his departure. But one suspects they know, in their heart of hearts, that in the rough neighbourhood of Middle East politics, he might have been their best bet. This was a stroke of bad luck for Israel and the Middle East. |
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