LETTER FROM JERUSALEM: On Israel’s Election Eve, Sharon Ahshav?
By Arlynn Nellhaus

Eat your heart out, Americans.

You had to endure a presidential campaign that started under the deep snows of New Hampshire (before we even had gotten used to writing 2000), and continued for almost a year, including weeks of limbo because of the contested results in Florida.

You can look on an Israeli election with envy.

You can be jealous over an Israeli election campaign's speed, and how it does not mess up the TV schedule. The current campaign, which ends on Monday, Feb. 5, will have lasted all of three weeks.

TV ads, straightforwardly called "propaganda" here, are confined to their designated 15-20 minutes an evening, and, mercifully, not on Shabbat. They do not interfere with "Ally McBeal."

In a regular parliamentary campaign, when the Knesset also is up for election, watching the ads are a show in themselves and can be rather fun. One side hurtles a barb at another, and the next night the other side responds. During those elections 18 months ago, some 35 parties ran, some with only a pittance of money to invest in propaganda.

For instance, the Green Leaf Party, advocating legalized marijuana, simply had an aged, spaced-out hippie delivering a pitch before a backdrop of lush, vivid greenery. They lost.

In the current election, because the vote is only for Prime Minister and there are but two candidates, the ads are boring. I've watched two. That was plenty.

There were ads to re-elect Prime Minister Ehud Barak with ominous music and sounding as if doomsday was imminent should Attila the Hun -- Ariel Sharon -- be elected.

There was Ariel Sharon, over-weight, under-charismatic, shown as a friendly farmer walking around with his adoring, headless grandchildren.

Not really headless, but appearing so through the magic of electronics. The election commission ordered that children's faces not be shown in the campaign.

All the propaganda have Russian subtitles. Sharon even speaks Russian. This is for that new powerhouse political block -- immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who continue to flood the country.

The Barak campaign accuses Sharon of "not having a plan." Israeli memories aren't that short. Barak had a plan when he was elected. He promised never to divide Jerusalem. He promised the Jordan Valley was necessary for Israel's defense and always would remain under Israel.

Within the past few months, especially in response to Yasser Arafat's orchestrated violence, Barak has offered to divide Jerusalem and give up the Jordan Valley and who knows what else at the recent Taba talks.

His supporters don't even blush to ask what another candidate's plan is while their own man's promises meant nothing.

Barak rants over Sharon's refusal to debate him. That is exactly what Barak did when he ran and won against Benjamin Netanyahu. He refused to debate Netanyahu.

Barak insists that if Sharon is elected, war will break out the next day and all of Israel will be buried. That's what Labor predicted about Menahem Begin.

But it is Barak who is willing to give away all of Israel's territorial defenses and make it not only vulnerable, but inviting aggression.

Meanwhile, Barak is apologizing to everyone for everything he has done wrong. He says he has learned from his mistakes. But Israelis no longer want to be his guinea pig.

With Sharon's lead over Barak some 16 points, Sharon's advisors tell him, just don't make a mistake -- just keep presenting yourself as the friendly farmer.

But unusual in this election is the large uncommitted vote. Some 25 percent of voters haven't decided what to do. And Israeli Arabs, angry with Barak, threaten to abstain or vote a blank ballot.

Many other Israelis are shaking their head and muttering, "I never believed I'd ever vote for Sharon."

Ten years ago or more, I wrote an angry letter to the New York Times when Joel Brinkley, then its man in Jerusalem, seemed to have an agenda: Demolish Sharon politically.

I thought it was ridiculous. "There is no chance in the world that Sharon ever will run for Prime Minister," I wrote at that time. "But in that unlikely event, there is no chance that he will be elected." So much for my crystal ball.

One Israeli columnist explained that he is so desperate to get the loose cannon Barak out of office, he is voting for Sharon. Barak's behavior in 18 months makes Netanyahu's controversial three years sedate in comparison. And anyway, we won't have Sharon for long.

The accepted opinion is that there will be a general election by November, so the premiership will be up for grabs again. Sharon only will be a stop-gap to halt Barak's desperation. And a perhaps chastened, forgiven Netanyahu will be back.

No chads or butterflies will be part of this vote count. This is a totally non-tech election. Voters pick the slip of paper designated for their candidate, put it into an envelope, seal the envelope and drop it into the ballot box. They don't have to mark a thing.

Election day is a national holiday, but restaurants are permitted to remain open. My friends and I will pile into one of them and have a party. With our loyalties ranging from Bolshevik left to radical right, we have agreed that the first person to mention politics will pick up the tab for all.

At the last election, we were so busy with our fresh grilled salmon, and so happy that the accusations and mud-slinging were over until the next time, the subject of politics never even came up.

An amusing election commentary has been seen on some bumper stickers at Peace Now's expense. In Hebrew, Peace Now is "Shalom Ahshav." The new bumper sticker reads, "Sharon Ahshav."

Arlynn Nellhaus is a former Denver Post reporter now based in Jerusalem and the author of Into the Heart of Jerusalem.