That is, Mr. Sharon has the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat under house arrest in his office in Ramallah, and he's had George Bush under house arrest in the Oval Office. Mr. Sharon has Mr. Arafat surrounded by tanks, and Mr. Bush surrounded by Jewish and Christian pro-Israel lobbyists, by a vice president, Dick Cheney, who's ready to do whatever Mr. Sharon dictates, and by political handlers telling the president not to put any pressure on Israel in an election year — all conspiring to make sure the president does nothing ([''A Rude Awakening'']http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/opinion/05FRIE.htm...).

Since Mr. Sharon is the only moving object, and because he has suddenly found himself under pressure to move - both to change the subject from the corruption scandal closing in on him and his family and to satisfy an Israeli electorate fed up with the bloody status quo……

''… to change the subject from the corruption scandal closing in on him and his family …''