REGIME CHANGES COME IN THREES:

Sharon says 2005 could bring 'historic breakthrough' to peace (Steven Erlanger, December 17, 2004, The New York Times)

Next year could bring a "historic breakthrough" in Israel's relations with the Palestinians, a buoyant Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Thursday, insisting that his plan to pull out of Gaza had united the country, even if it had divided his own party.

Sharon said that his government would implement his proposal to dismantle all the Israeli settlements in Gaza and four small ones in the West Bank on schedule, and said that he wanted to coordinate it with a new, elected Palestinian leadership that turned its back on violence.

"In 2005 we have the opportunity for an historic breakthrough in relations between us and the Palestinians, a breakthrough for which we have waited many years," Sharon told delegates to the annual Herzliya conference on policy and strategy.

Israel also has the opportunity "to establish a new partnership with the international community in the struggle against terror and regional and global instability," he said.

But to take advantage of those opportunities, he said, Israel "must take the initiative," adding: "This is the hour, this is the time. This is the national test."

Against all the predictions of the Realist pundiotocracy, regime change worked.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 17, 2004 9:05 AM