And then, as if by a miracle, everything changed. Sharon announced that he was going to visit this Muslim compound. Barak took the visit under his wing and sent 1200 police officers to accompany Sharon. The visit caused the expected explosion. The next day seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli policemen near the al-Aksa mosque.
Demonstrations spread all through the occupied territories and spilled over into Israel proper.
After some hundred fatalities, including the Palestinian child killed in the arms of his father and the Israeli reserve soldiers brutally lynched in Ramallah, a real emergency was finally achieved. Barak called for the setting-up of an emergency government, and, lo and behold, nearly all the parties stood in line to join him. All the media have become a chorus for his propaganda, a vast majority in the country supports him. All in all, a stroke of genius. Barak and Sharon are saved from political perdition and have become national heroes.