Sharon's speech to UN

[Main link is full transcript]

I will do a full analysis later, but for now, I just want to stress a couple main points Sharon made near the beginning of his speech:

My friends and colleagues, heads and representatives of the U.N. member states,

I arrived here from Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years, and the undivided and eternal capital of the State of Israel.

Without opening himself up to arguments, Sharon stated unequivocally that Jerusalem is non-negotiable. This was well done and well said. After a short message to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, he continued:

Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you at the gate of nations as a Jew and as a citizen of the democratic, free and sovereign State of Israel, a proud representative of an ancient people whose numbers are few, but whose contribution to civilization and to the values of ethics, justice and faith, surrounds the world and encompasses history.

While this is a pretty much unneccessary paragraph, I believe it, too, is both well said and well placed. As an aside, his mention that he is a Jew first and an Israeli citizen second is nice to see; more importantly, each portion of his statement shows a contrast between the Jews of the world and others, particularly the Palestinians.

[OK - time to cook for shabbos... TO BE CONTINUED here]

Technorati tags: Sharon, Israel, UN.