Jerusalem — Ariel Sharon, the Israeli warrior who gained fame and notoriety through his exploits on the battlefield, takes power today in an angry, depressed nation reeling from the bloodiest wave of Palestinian violence in years.
As Sharon prepares to become Israel's fifth prime minister in six years, he has pledged above all to restore Israelis' sense of security. But his ascent to the job he has wanted most of his life coincides with what many Israelis consider one of the least secure moments in recent memory.
At the outset of his term, Sharon's Israel is a place starting to feel itself besieged in a way it had not during most of the 1990s. Stunned by three bombings in or near major cities in the last week and frightened by grenade attacks and drive-by shootings, many Israelis say that ordinary parts of their daily lives walking to the bank, taking the bus, shopping at the market, going to the movies have become a frightening adventure.
Israel remains vastly more powerful than the Palestinians, a fact starkly reflected in the count of those killed in the last five months of violence: 342 Palestinians, 65 Israeli Jews and 13 Israeli Arabs. But Israelis and Palestinians live in parallel universes, and the Palestinian deaths and injuries barely register with Jews in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. And they do nothing to ease the growing sense among Israelis that they are the ones truly at risk.
For now, a large majority of Israelis more than 70 percent, according to recent polls have given up on peace, or even a peace process. At this point, most would settle for peace and quiet, or "normalcy" as Israelis often put it. The question is whether Sharon can deliver it, and how.
"The worst is yet to come," said Avishai Margalit, an Israeli political philosopher. "Up to now what we've seen is just the beginning of it. The dynamic is such that I think it will escalate."
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