In an expected victory, retired general of the Israeli Army Ariel Sharon, 72, defeated Prime Minister Ehud Barak, 54, by a landslide in Tuesday's election.
The reaction of University of Memphis students to this development in the volatile Middle East seems to raise several questions about peace and the future of Israel.
"You just have a sick sense of dread that something bad is fixing to happen," said Anna Johnson, a sophomore English major.
Sharon has had a very controversial career in Israeli affairs. In 1982, he masterminded the successful invasion of Lebanon by Israel. However, after capturing and controlling a majority of the country, Sharon allowed his Maronite Christian allies to enter refugee camps and slaughter an estimated 800 men, women and children, while his detachment of the army had the city surrounded.
An Israeli Commission of Inquiry relieved Sharon of his command, saying he was "indirectly responsible" for the slaughter.
But Sharon refused to quit and slowly began to build a base of right-wing and conservative support. After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his position in 1999, Sharon had enough support to take control of the Likud Party.
His 63 to 37 percent defeat of Barak, who headed the Labour Party, was the greatest margin of victory in Israeli electoral history. However, only 62 percent of eligible voters voted, the lowest voter turnout ever. In comparison, 80 percent voted in 1999 and 93 percent voted in 1992.
Doug Myers, graduate student and political science major, said the election was not so surprising.
"There's been a sense and a movement that Israel has to go that way," Myers said. "Barak offered too much and there was no way that Israel was going to suddenly rally to his side to let him come from behind. Sharon led the whole time."
Sharon, in accepting victory, pledged to keep Jerusalem united under Israeli sovereignty. In a move to assist in that, freshmen Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Jean Carnahan (D-MO.) are co-authoring a bill to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, the former capital of Israel.
