What is it about the Middle East, anyway? Just as Ariel Sharon, Israel's trusted "Mr. Security," had been moving towards a new, centrist political party and possibly a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians, THIS happens. Damn. Memories of another tragedy - the assassination of peace making Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995 (almost exactly 10 years ago) - rush to mind. Today, I truly fear for the Israelis and the Palestinians now that Sharon, possibly the only man in Israel who could have pulled a "Nixon goes to China" (by giving up much of the West Bank, aka, "Judea and Samaria," and even partial sovereignty over Jerusalem in exchange for peace) appears to be gone from the stage. What a nightmare. And no, I NEVER thought I'd be saying that about Ariel Sharon, who I used to despise as a hard-line right winger. Amazing how things change sometimes...if Sharon dies, I will mourn him greatly.