Please wake up, Mr Sharon

I was so stunned by the news of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's stroke that I kept a vigil by the TV, watching CNN's coverage from Jerusalem.

Finally, feeling like a zombie, I found myself at the computer sending an e-mail to CNN who were asking: "What are you feeling?"

I wrote: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new party is called Kadima or Forward. Let us put aside the man's old transgressions. Everybody has sins but with time we change our thoughts and behaviour by learning and progressing. Today's Mr Sharon has grown and changed and was looking to find some route to peace negotiations with the Palestinians. He kept on moving forward towards peace. Let us pray that his dream of peace, of moving forward, will continue. Let the whole world pray for that. Let his dream of peace not be in vain."

I sent the letter at 2 p.m. local time and at 5 p.m. I heard CNN say: "Here is a letter from Malta" and read it out...

When Ariel ("Lion of God") Sharon fell ill, the news sent shock waves around the world. Jews and Christians around the world see him as a monumental leader, the 'bulldozer' of the Middle East. Renaissance sculptors would surely have carved him sitting on a huge chair or rock, holding a shepherd's crook with a biblical aura.

Sharon was born on a farm outside Tel Aviv. His ranch in the Negev is where he relaxes and where he would return if he ever recovers, even partially, from his stroke.

On January 5, I was following reports of Mr Sharon's brain scans and operations, and viewed the admiration and hatred shown towards him in different places around the world.

Several young Israelis who were forcibly evicted from Gaza said that "this is his punishment for pulling us out of Gaza". The fact that he was 77 and they were 30 - and that he succeeded - was not mentioned. On the Gaza Strip young Arab boys were offering sweets to passers-by to 'celebrate' Sharon's stroke. It never occurred to them that he was the strongest force, planning to gamble everything, in an attempt to bring peace and sanity to the Israelis and Palestinians.

Sharon fit each role he was given in life like a glove. He took a post and always, for better or worse, delivered with courage and hutzpah (Yiddish for unbelievable gall), more than anybody had bargained for.

United Arab forces led by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat attacked Israel in 1973. General Sharon not only pushed them back but, ignoring orders, annexed the Sinai desert, Sharm El Sheik, the Church of St Catherine, and oil- fields, and crossed the Suez Canal. All this territory was later returned to Sadat, and the move brought - or bought - peace.

Israeli President Menachem Begin and President Sadat signed and kept a shaky but steadfast peace. They used Sharon-conquered Egyptian territory as bargaining chips and the foundation of peace. 

In 1982 an Israeli court found Sharon, then defence minister, guilty of not stopping the Sabra and Shatila massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon by the Lebanese army. He had to resign his Cabinet post because he did nothing to save the victims. I cannot remember many cases of anybody being punished for not doing anything. Even though he was not present at the massacre, Israel was right: he was guilty of not stopping it.

Twenty-six years later Sharon the hawk turned into a dove. He left his party, the hawkish Heirut, and tried to bring peace by forming a centrist party - and the rest is history.

This week most of the sane world felt a void that endangers the Middle East. The doctors treating Mr Sharon became good at talking endlessly about his condition but really saying nothing. They kept repeating that they had to wait until Mr Sharon came to from his medically-induced coma so that his condition could be assessed.

Mr Sharon is one of the founding shepherds of Israel (and Israel is surrounded by some wild beings!). His two sons are at his side, constantly talking to him, playing his beloved Mozart near his bed. Hospital staff brought a big plate of Shwarma (Greek Giro or dolmer Kabab), his favourite food, to try to stimulate him.

I did not hear of anyone trying to make him laugh to stimulate the right side of his brain so maybe somebody will send him this article with this Jewish joke - the best one I've heard in ages. Remember, Orthodox Jews, like Catholics, are forbidden from using contraception. Conservative Jews are avant-garde, and the liberal Jews have female ministers, so how can you tell to which denomination some bridal couples belong?

You can tell it is an Orthodox Jewish wedding because the mother of the bride is pregnant. You can tell it is a conservative Jewish wedding because the bride is pregnant. You can tell it is a Jewish reform wedding because the Rabbi is pregnant...

Mr Sharon, please laugh.