This week, much of the Israeli blogosphere is in a tizzy over what the media lost no time in dubbing a “political earthquake”: Ariel Sharon has left the hawkish Likud party, which he helped found and has virtually defined for years; he has formed a new centrist political party that was briefly called National Responsibility. After a couple of days that name was rejected in favour of Kadima (Forward). Yup, there's already a Wikipedia entry about the new political party, even though it's less than one week old. Quite a few prominent Likud members jumped ship to follow their leader, and some well-known Labour politicians have left, or are considering leaving, their party to join Kadima as well. The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, voted to disband the current government in the wake of Sharon’s move, and national elections have been scheduled for March 28. So now we have Amir Peretz rejuvenating the until-recently moribund Labour Party (see last week’s roundup of reactions to Peretz’s election to chariman of Labour), a shattered and possibly permanently sidelined Likud party and a new centrist party led by Sharon. In two weeks, the domestic political landscape has changed completely. For journalists and politics junkies who happen to be bloggers, this is fabulous stuff. There’ll be tons and tons of material to talk and write about for – oh, weeks and blissful weeks. But don’t worry if you’re not interested in politics – Israeli bloggers are writing about plenty of other stuff too and there’s a roundup of miscellaneous posts following the political roundup. Reactions to the Sharon earthquake Allison Kaplan Sommer of An Unsealed Room has written several insightful and frequently hilarious posts about the events of the past week. For hilarity, check out her interpretation of Ben-Gurion University President Avishay Braverman’s speech, in which he announced that he was joining the Labour party: “The very unsubtle subtext of the speech was, ‘Yuppie Ashkenazi White People! Fear Not from the Labor Party! I won't let Amir Peretz turn into Fidel Castro! We're Social Democrats like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair!’” More of Allison’s not-to-be-missed commentary is here, here and here. Imshin of Not a Fish writes, “Sharon and Peretz are both nasty bastards, both sly, corrupt, cynical politicians. Is Peretz any nastier than Sharon? I doubt it. Love them or hate them, the thing is that both are people who get things done, make things happen. Who would have believed the Gaza disengagement would actually happen?” Bert of Dutchblog Israel writes, “The most positive result of Sharon's decision to leave the party of which he was one of the main founders seems to be that in the coming elections Israeli voters will have two very clear options to choose from, at least as far as our presence in the territories is concerned.” But in the same post Bert also worries that Sharon, like Rabin, is a one-man show. Who will carry out his plans if the septuagenarian leader is incapacitated while in office? Read more of Bert’s incisive commentary here, and here. Batya, who lives in the West Bank (many Israelis call this territory by the biblical names Judea and Samaria) and blogs at Shiloh Musings, has this to say about the Likud: “The ‘real Likud’ of pro-Land of Israel loyalty is dead. It is like a brain dead patient being kept alive by machinery. It's time to pull the plug.” Shai of Shaister is currently on vacation in the USA, and while he’s mildly irritated at missing the current goings on he has plenty of pithy political analysis: “I see the Israeli political landscape dominated by a number of political blocs at the moment. Sharon’s new party will likely dominate the center, drawing moderate Likud voters and hawkish Labor voters. The new party will more than likely kill Shinui, since it occupies the same political space but lacks both Shinui’s anti-religious message and its odious leader (Tommy Lapid).” More political commentary from Shai here. Harry of The View from Here took a break from his usual podcasts to write about politics, “It's mindblowing that the political landscape of a country can completely change within a week.” There’s even a post about the upcoming elections over at the purportedly apolitical group blog Israelity: “The only aspect to look forward to actually, is the campaign commercials for the fringe parties like the taxi drivers’ party, the Green Leaf party for legalizing pot, and the sentimental favorite – the battered husbands’ party. Now that’s entertainment.” Dave of Israellycool is posting regular media and blog roundups on the upcoming elections. His latest post is here; it includes a link to his previous coverage.