The Power Broker
Today on Tablet
November 01, 2011
In an excerpt from his new book, Gilad Sharon narrates how, as agriculture minister in Menachem Begin’s government, his father, Ariel, began to construct the network of settlements near and in the Palestinian territories. Though his father was of course ideologically motivated, his immediate impetus, Sharon argues, was a practical consideration of Israel’s security needs. A generous reading might cast the controversial former prime minister, in this earlier stage of his career, as Israel’s Robert Moses.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.