Dianne Feinstein: “Mr. Friedman makes a simple but profound point. He writes that many ``are asking exactly the wrong question about the…”

“Mr. Friedman makes a simple but profound point. He writes that many ``are asking exactly the wrong question about the Sharon election. They're asking, who is Ariel Sharon? The real question is, who is Yasser Arafat?'' He continues, ``the press keeps asking: Will Mr. Sharon become another Charles de Gaulle . . . or will he be Richard Nixon, the anti- Communist who made peace with Communist China?'' So we naturally ask the question, will Ariel Sharon reach out to the Palestinians? As Tom Friedman points out, this is exactly the wrong way to look at Ariel Sharon or the recent election. Why? Because Israel just had its de Gaulle. His name was Ehud Barak. Mr. Barak was Israel's most decorated soldier. He abstained in the cabinet vote over the Oslo II peace accords. But once in office he changed 180 degrees. He offered Mr. Arafat 94 percent of the West Bank for a Palestinian state . . . plus half of Jerusalem . . . and Mr. Arafat not only said no to all this, but described Israel as ``fascist'' as Mr. Barak struggled for re-election. Mr. Friedman continues to state what has become clear: ``What good is it for Israel to have a Nixon if the Palestinians have no Mao?'' As someone who has been a supporter of the Oslo process from the start, I say this with a great deal of regret. And I wish this were not the case. But we have seen Israel make the offer, an historic offer, only to have it rebuffed. The consequences of this could, in fact, be devastating.…”