Mostly they burned up phone lines and worried. The incapacitation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ruffled the Middle East at a volatile moment with Israeli and Palestinian elections approaching.
And Denver-area Jews and Palestinians wondered who might replace him – a 260-pound cattleman-warrior dubbed “the bulldozer” – without hurting their groups’ positions.
But for a few, Sharon lying unconscious after seven hours of surgery also was personal.
Elisha Noy, 70, president of a Denver travel company, fought together with Sharon in all the big wars since Israel’s creation in 1948. They’ve kept in touch, meeting in Israel last year, and Noy on Thursday received regular medical updates from Jerusalem.
Sharon “has integrity, knows why he fights. He’d never leave any wounded soldier to die in the field,” Noy said at his home in Arvada. As a leader, he said, Sharon “became more and more understanding.”
At war, Noy ran vehicles and Sharon ran an elite unit that hunted Arab fighters. Sharon once ordered Noy into hostile territory to help retrieve 17 damaged tanks.
“A very, very tough mission. But he said, ‘You must do it,”‘ Noy recalled.
“He knows how to make strong decisions. Most leaders, when people need them to make decisions, they sweat and lose their heads.”
They fought in 1967, 1970, 1973 and finally 1982 in Lebanon, where Sharon lost his job as defense minister after civilian massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Today in those Palestinian ghettos, Sharon is reviled by many as a butcher.
Yet this week, even Palestinians said they preferred Sharon in power to uncertainty.
“He’s going to leave behind him a big vacuum of leadership. And that is not in the best interests of the Palestinians or the Israelis at this time,” said Mohammad Jodeh, a Denver businessman and religious leader who helped establish the Colorado Muslim Society mosque and regularly visits the Middle East.
“A vacuum of leadership in Israel gives more chaos to the Palestinians as well,” Jodeh said.
While Sharon for five years fought Palestinians militarily, “at this time,” Jodeh said, “I’d like to see him in the leadership of Israel.”
Sharon in recent years combined controversial tactics such as building a massive wall around Palestinian communities with withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian Gaza territory. A few months ago, Sharon broke from his hard-line Likud Party and formed a new centrist party – Kadima (Forward).
His health crisis weakens Kadima for Israel’s March 28 elections, said Shaul Gabbay, a former Israeli Defense Forces commander now at the University of Denver’s Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East.
Veteran statesman Shimon Peres, an established man of peace, could step in, Gabbay said.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud Party hard-liner squaring off against Sharon, appeals strongly to Israelis who oppose dismantling settlements.
And Palestinians increasingly turn to Hamas, which orchestrated terrorist attacks on Israelis but also provides needed social services, Gabbay said.
Israel’s next leader must decide whether to deal with Hamas. Said Noy: “Israel must speak to Hamas.”
At the Allied Jewish Federation Office in Denver, Shaul Amir, who serves as a bridge between Israel and Denver’s Jewish community, acknowledged that Sharon’s illness “froze the Israeli political system. It is in total disarray.
“It doesn’t look as though he’ll be able to come back to politics soon,” Amir said.
All synagogues have received a request to hold prayers for Sharon this weekend, Amir said. “I’m positive that it will happen.”
Staff writer Bruce Finley can be reached at 303-820-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com.
