Instead, Sharon's expected departure will leave an epic vacuum, precisely because so much of what his government has achieved in recent years?defeating the Palestinian intifada, rolling back the Oslo Accords, and achieving U.S. consent for a once unthinkable set of unilateral actions to redraw the de facto borders between Israel and the Palestinians?carries his personal signature. In keeping with a longstanding Middle Eastern tradition, a single leader's physical collapse has left that which seemed set in stone only days ago suddenly appearing distinctly fluid. Time