From Gush Shalom
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NAPOLEON CAME to a German town and was not welcomed with the traditional artillery salute.
Furious, he summoned the mayor and demanded an explanation.
The German produced a long scroll of paper and said: "I have a list of 99 reasons. Reason No. 1: we have no cannon."
"That's enough'" Napoleon interrupted him, "You can go home!"
I WAS reminded of this story some two weeks ago, when I read Yitzhak Herzog's 10-point peace plan.
Herzog, the leader of the Labor Party, is an honest and intelligent person. All the bad things written about him when it seemed that he was crawling towards Binyamin Netanyahu's coalition have been refuted by the recent disclosure about the Aqaba peace initiative.
The rulers of Egypt, Jordan and Israel, so it appeared, had met in secret and asked Herzog to make peace possible by joining Netanyahu's coalition. Herzog was hoodwinked by Netanyahu and agreed. He kept silent under the storm of contemptuous reactions. That shows that he is both decent and responsible.
No doubt, he could be a good prime minister for Ireland, where his grandfather had been the Chief Rabbi, or even in Switzerland. But not in Israel.
Israel now needs a strong leader, with lots of charisma and a profound understanding of the historic conflict. Not a Herzog.
COMING BACK to Napoleon.
Two weeks ago Herzog proudly published his Peace Plan, consisting of 10 points.
Point No. 1 is an ritual repetition of the two-states principle. It is point No. 2 that is the crux of the matter. It says that the negotiations for peace will start 10 years from now.
That's where Napoleon would have said "That's enough. Go home!"
The idea that peace negotiations can be postponed for 10 years is preposterous. A people under a brutal occupation will not sit still for 10 years. During this time, the plan obliges the Palestinians (Point 6) to act against "terrorism and sedition." No mention of Israeli violence and "sedition."
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