Sharon Stumbles a Bit on the Campaign Trail

As he coasts to what would seem to be certain victory in an upcoming election, Ariel Sharon’s strategy has been to avoid mistakes. On Monday, however, the right-wing opposition leader found himself on the defensive.

Sharon was dogged throughout the day by published comments in which he branded Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat a liar and a murderer.

Then he was caught off guard by a 16-year-old high school student who rose at a rally to blame Sharon for Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the permanent trauma that it caused her family.

Supporters of caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is languishing a distant second in polls ahead of the Feb. 6 election, seized upon Sharon’s difficulties. Sharon has sought to portray himself as a benign grandfather, ignoring the most controversial parts of his military past, and Barak supporters have been unable to pierce that veneer.

Barak received another blessing Monday when the organization promoting a “dump Barak” campaign suspended its efforts--at least temporarily. The group has been demanding that Labor Party elder statesman Shimon Peres replace Barak as candidate, and Peres has done little to discourage the idea. Now, however, members say they realize that they were only helping Sharon.

Sharon fended off questions about an interview he gave to the New Yorker magazine. In it, he called Arafat a liar, murderer and bitter enemy and suggested that making peace with the Palestinians was a pipe dream. The interview, in the current issue of the magazine, was conducted in November, before Barak’s unexpected resignation forced February’s election.

Sharon said Monday, “My opinion about [Arafat] is well known.”

He said that he would negotiate with Arafat, since he is the leader of the Palestinian people, but that talks under his direction would be radically different from those Barak has led without results.

Although the less-than-diplomatic characterization of Arafat might contradict the image that Sharon is attempting to cultivate, it will undoubtedly appeal to the many Israelis who believe that the iron fist Sharon represents is the appropriate way to deal with the Palestinians in the wake of the last four months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.

Later, as Sharon spoke to a high school audience in the Negev desert, a student wearing a Barak T-shirt stood to challenge him.

“Ariel Sharon, I accuse you of inflicting pain on me and my father for more than 16 years,” the student, Ilil Comay, said, adding that her father emerged from the war in Lebanon shellshocked and traumatized. “You caused a great deal of suffering to many people. You are not worthy of being elected prime minister.”

A stunned Sharon floundered before responding that the girl should blame the “real culprits” of the Lebanon fiasco, including Labor Party governments of the mid-1970s.

Sharon campaign organizers said they did not believe that their candidate had suffered a setback. Israeli television commentators said that it was a rare good day for Barak, but that he still had a long way to go.

Throughout his troubled campaign, Barak has had more than Sharon to deal with. Many on the left and within Labor have been urging Barak to make way for Peres, who, polls indicate, would have a fighting chance against Sharon.

But organizers of the “dump Barak” drive said in a news conference that the “peace camp” had to unite behind a single candidate, and since Barak has refused to step aside, Barak will be the candidate.

Peres managed to upstage Barak again Monday with a visit to the grieving mothers of 13 Israeli Arab youths killed by Israeli police in demonstrations in October.

Peres apologized for “all the pain and suffering” caused by the killings, which human rights groups here have blamed on the use of excessive force by the Israeli police. Barak has said he would not apologize, although he said he “shared their pain.” Israel’s Arab citizens, who constitute about 20% of the vote and helped push Barak to a landslide victory in 1999, are now so angry with him that they are likely to sit out the election.

Meanwhile, negotiations aimed at reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians continued in the Egyptian resort of Taba for a second day. An Israeli official said any accord reached would not be signed until after the election.

Israel’s election campaign and the peace talks are occurring against the backdrop of continued violence. On Monday, an Israeli army sapper was seriously injured by a roadside bomb that exploded as he walked ahead of a tank near a Jewish settlement in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip.

In a chilling novelty, the radical Islamic Hamas movement later showed a videotape of how it had planted and detonated the bomb, and of the explosion itself. It echoed the way Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon photographed and broadcast dozens of deadly attacks on Israeli troops, a tactic that caused enormous psychological damage.