In wartime, you don't have to expose everything to the world, to stand in public and reveal everything, in the name of that hypocritical and lie-filled concept known as honesty.--Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel

Sunday, May 6, 2001

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Sharon's doublethink

by Uzi Benziman

PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon keeps repeating that he has not changed, and five days ago the familiar voice from the past echoed once again. At a meeting with the Yesha Council of Settlements and leaders from the Jordan Valley communities, in the presence of media cameras and recorders, he made the following statements in reference to Israel's methods of operation against Palestinian terror:

"There are things we will tell the public about, there are things we will deny and there are things that will remain hidden forever." It is superfluous to add to what has already been written about the political wisdom of such statements, but we think it is worth expressing an opinion about the moral worldview behind them.

Sharon is in effect saying that the words he utters are intended to achieve practical results; they have no intrinsic value. Words are a political or political -- and apparently personal as well -- tool, but they lack the original, specific meaning that people usually attribute to them. According to this approach, a politician can use words any way he pleases without considering their accepted meaning.

One can say that black is white or that big is small, because there is an external, superior purpose to the phrases issuing from a politician's mouth. Sharon felt no shame in declaring from the outset that he, or his government, will not hesitate to deceive the public, or the world ("there are things we will deny").

This attitude comes as no surprise from someone who once said that "in wartime, you don't have to expose everything to the world, to stand in public and reveal everything, in the name of that hypocritical and lie-filled concept known as honesty."

If that is how the prime minister views the role of words and interpersonal communication, how is it possible to evaluate his statements? If, for example, he repeats that he has a clear plan of how to restore calm, can the public see this as a simple promise - i.e. that the prime minister is about to bring about an end to the Palestinian violence - or does he have a hidden intent when he says such things? If he announces that he will bring peace, and that after bringing about calm, he will offer the Palestinians a wise, achievable diplomatic proposal - is this declaration being made in the language of an ordinary man or in the doublethink language of George Orwell, which Sharon sees as being reserved for statesmen?

This clarification is particularly necessary when one reads the way the prime minister words his official announcements.

The press announcements released by the Prime Minister's Bureau regularly focus on the responsibility of Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority for the terror attacks and the deterioration in security. The listener draws the conclusion that this is the prime minister's learned perception about the terrorist organizations and that the frequent reminders regarding the part played by the Palestinian leadership are meant to prepare the ground for an operation that will nip the evil in the bud.

Nevertheless, when it becomes clear that Sharon has his own private dictionary, it raises doubts about the accepted meaning of the accusations he pins on the PA.

This disease is also spreading into other areas. When Sharon tells the High Court of Justice that dispatching his son, Omri, to speak to Arafat can save lives, are we to accept his statement as given, or is it couched in a code that views honesty as hypocritical? After all, according to Sharon's perception, his son is his right arm, his long arm meeting with Arafat. If his mission is to save lives, then why doesn't Sharon carry it out himself? Just because he announced that he will not hold direct talks with Arafat as long as the shooting continues?

Why is it that on this issue, of all others, he chooses to keep his word.