Alone in the Barak field

(Photo: AP )

Who has the worst life in the promised land? You won’t believe it: the first person in the country. The head of the Israeli cabinet, Ehud Barak, whose premiership was not a success from the very first day, experienced a week that would not be imagined even in a nightmare.

Blows rained down on poor Barack's head from all sides. And he, as befits a renowned army general, did not even try to dodge. As if he was making it clear to his opponents: you won’t get through anyway, my office is following the only correct path and will not turn away from it. Speaking to reporters, Barak promised to continue peaceful dialogue with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, despite the recent failure of negotiations at Camp David.

All of Barack's current problems are due to Camp David, where, as many in Israel believe, he showed criminal softness. They cannot forgive him for this. Last Wednesday, Foreign Minister David Levy slammed the door, declaring that Barak's policies "contradict the very spirit of the people." “I cannot be a minister in the cabinet of such a prime minister,” Levi seethed with indignation. On the same day, before going on vacation, parliament presented Barack with another “gift” by approving the bill on early elections in the first reading.

But that is not all. Two days earlier, on Monday, when the Knesset was electing the new president of Israel, parliamentarians, in defiance of Barak, voted not for the Nobel laureate Shimon Peres, who stood at the origins of the Middle East peace process, but for a gray horse - a right-wing politician, unknown to anyone in the world, Moshe Katsav. This is despite the fact that Perez, in all polls, was far ahead of Katsav in popularity. It was a double blow: Barack not only lost a potential ally in Peres, but also avoided resignation with great difficulty. During the voting on the draft resolution of no confidence in the cabinet, the scales froze: 50 against, 50 in favor. The rightists only needed a few votes to win.

Barack is doing badly. However, those who had already put an end to his premiership were clearly in a hurry. The issue of early elections has not yet been resolved. According to the constitution, parliament will have to consider it three more times, and this will not happen before October. So Barack still has time to make a strong move in response. This could be a peace treaty with Arafat, concluded on decent terms. This is Barack's last chance. Having lost his army, the general wants to prove that he is the only warrior in the field.