with this balance right and left entoces'll be stuck with a government that is not afraid to make decisions even encouraged to be for the good of the people of Israel, just to stay in power until the enemy detruya while we look to the international community across

He has had a very good innings and has done his bit for Israel but it's high time to retire gracefully and to call it a day .I saw Mr Peres on Sky news recently ,nobody wants to watch a decrepit old fart on television with a thick polish accent .Israel needs young ,telegenic spokespeople who can speak faultless ,impeccable english .

I am tired of this old egoist.

He has NEVER been elected by the general public for anything! Exactly what status are you referring to? The one where the people know he is a nobody, do nothing, over the hill, past his expiration date should really go home for good politiian?

Peres is has been babbling on about a new middle east for many years now. Its been all talk of course. Its about time that he contributed to his pet project by retiring from public life. Enough is enough !!!

I just wonder, with tears in my eyes how we keep on producing such foolish leaders in this land such as Livni.

Livni wants to be Peres number 2 because she wants his fame and respect amongst the left to get their party elected and then she is counting on him dying in office and she can inherit the post of PM. The woman has a serious ego problem and wants to be PM herself not number 2 as she was under Olmert so she wouldn't propose this unless she thought she could be PM somehow. Peres is 89 and he doesn't want the hassle of being PM again. As president he gets to stay in politics but without the stress of being PM. He has already been PM so its an experience he really wants before he dies, thats a job for younger men. If Livni wants to get back into politics before this election she will have to either have to take over a registered no hope party or join Kadima which she quit just 6 months ago. Peres want the hassle of starting up a new party or fighting Mofaz for Kadima leadership. Livni is probably going to take over an existing party and twin some seats but not enough to win this election. once she is an MK and leading a party she can use the next couple of years to build herself up so she has a better chance of winning next time. If she doesn't do this then people start to forget her and they don't know what she stands for, she needs time. Sadly for Livni Peres has already stated on the record he intends to serve out his full term as president and not join Livni at the election so it really doesn't matter anyway.

She would lose.

Isn't their a simpler reason? The Left has no one else. Neither of their leaders (Lapid, Yehimovitch) has any government or Minister experience. There second rank people who were ministers were all miserable failures, like Livni, Peretz and Ben Eliezer. The only Leftists with "stature" are convicted criminals Ramon, Olmerd and Deri.

Peres is an all time loser and Livni is an all time loser. Her reasoning is to multiply the two negatives to make a positive. The problem is that it's not a multiplication but an addition where 2 negatives are added.

No political office without serving honorably in the I.D.F. No voting without I.D.F. service. After someone finishes his or her one or two terms, then no one for the next three generations of their families can participate in politics, except for voting. We need to give others a chance to ruin Israel, steal and give "jobs" to their families and friends. We should also remember the work done by livni that enabled hizbollah to have more rockets and missiles than they had in the second leb war.

The authority of the president resides in it being a non-political role. By trying to negotiate, entice, or any other word one chooses , while he is in office, is to taint the office of president - as it leads to perception of impartiality, possible 'bribe of sorts', etc. If Livni wants Peres she could just wait until his leaves the office and they request him to join the party (even then a cooling off period may be warranted) But nothing can surprise us anymore with Livni. The coveted seat of power is far more important for her then principles.

Former Prime Minister Peres is the only living politician with the courage to sit in a room with Arab leaders and make peace. This generation of Israeli doesn't seem to have the capacity to give up anything. They are a spoiled group, living in a bubble that will eventually come crashing down. When it does, they will cry about the decades of missed opportunities to resolve the conflict peacefully.

without a doubt. she is a vain fool who was given a chance and blew it big time!

Out of her depth and deluded, she seems to be willing to go to any length to acquire a place in office Get a strong man for your bed and retire happy

Peres is not going to leave the number one spot of being president to lead a losing election to become number zero for Livni's sake. This, by the way, shows Livni's lack of brains and why Kadima, thanks to her leadership, is dead, brain dead.

I think Peres is a very good spokesman and president. America should have such a man. Peres has been involved in every government for fifty years (or more) and has done only good. He deserves our respect. If there is an old fart, as you say, running about, it is your low quality comments that lend substance to the putrid smell.

there are no true leaders in "Israel", just a bunch of terrorists .

to israeli PM. I remember those days of Golda Meir when Jom kippur war erupted. Every hungarian jews blamed her for the tragic failures. Mrs Livni would be rather a perfect kindergarden teacher.

A year ago Livni left the politics since I quote her own statement by memory: "It is a very unclean business". Now she came back after the year her own absence. So has the politics become cleaner since then? Looks like: "yes" from her point of view since she gets back. But may be because she hasn't been here it is cleaner)))))))))))) It is all the joke anyway)))

Prime ministers should be limited to two terms although the terms should be of a fixed length and to do this we need separate elections one for the PM & one for everybody else. We should also insist that any PM must have at least been a junior minister in a previous government. How can it be good for the country if Shelly Y who has never even been an MK in ruling coalitionlet alone a minister. Yair Lapid who has never even been an MK before be contenders for the premiership? Do we want rookies running the country? Not letting somebody be an ordinary MK for more than 2 terms is counter productive. Considering in this country the average government last 2.5 years you would get 5 years in the Knesset which doesn't exactly leave you time to learn leaving only inexperienced people in the Knesset Maybe we could let them serve for a maximum number of years like 10-15 years but not 2 terms. I agree unless they should be obligated to have served unless the IDF give a a were not wanted: Maybe olim to old to serve when they arrived, the IDF turned them down for physical reasons etc but the IDF should be responsible for explaining the reason why they never served. Arabs must have done some kind of civilian national service, helps develop a little loyalty to the state. Being religious or a draft dodger should not be an excuse.

ראה איך מרקלוס הגדול, נלאות בעמל, הוא נע עם גברי חסד, כמה עשיר עם שלל מלכותי! Aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis Ingreditur, victorque viros supereminet omnes See great Marcellus how, untired in toils,He moves with manly grace, how rich with regal spoils!

Livni is incompetent (her performance as foreign minister during the 2nd Lebanon War in 2006); a coward (her refusal to quit the govt. and demand Olmert's resignation during the Winograd commission hearings after the failed war); and was largely a creation of the media (a presentable woman, a possible alternative to Bibi (the man whom the media hates) and to Olmert (too corrupt, etc.). She is simply not good enough for PM and Peres is president and should remain so. He had his chance as PM, Defense minister, foreign minister and look at his new Middle East and his pie-in-the-sky promises. But as Kleinberg correctly writes -- with Peres, one never knows. I hope he'll finally retire when his term as president ends and he should take a vow of silence. And Livni should learn to speak decent English.

Livni standing will benefit the right because it divides the leftist vote. Instead of Shelly getting 20+ seats probably giving her second largest party or even becoming PM if things go bad for Bibi she has to share those leftist votes with Livni possibly giving both of them around 10 seats each. This will give Bibi more choice if he needs leftist party to get the numbers for a coalition. Even if the left get more seats if its split between different parties then Bibi has more choice because he has the only centre right party, I imagine he would also probably prefer Livni over than Shelly.

Shhhh Dont day that otherwise you will be lynched by the equal rights people There was no excuse at all for Goldas failings in the Yom Kippur War, even King Hussain secretly flew to Israel and told her Nasser had asked him to take part in this war. She decided better for the international community to see Israel as the victim rather than aggressor by pre emptying. At the same time we had idiots like Peres who planned to go public when he heard Begin was planning to bomb Saddam Hussain's nuclear reactor because he was worried about how the French would react as they were building it for him. What we really need to ban is idealists especially from the left. Idealists are obsessed with a certain cause and don't care whats best for the country whilst the left are obsessed with image and peace making at any cost.

These two are among the most cynical, self serving and destructive politicians Israel has ever suffered.

Look who is talking. Salma came back but more crazy than ever. She really doesn't know who is who. We'll like all arabs for which black is white and white is black. They lost a war and are claming victory. What's worst. they belive their own lies. Remind me of Nasser in the call he made to King Hissein in the second day of the war. "we alreadu destryed Israeli Airforce and practically all the tanks and soldiers". At the end the story was another....Well we all know what really happened

Look who is talking. Salma came back but more crazy than ever. She really doesn't know who is who. We'll like all arabs for which black is white and white is black. They lost a war and are claming victory. What's worst. they belive their own lies. Remind me of Nasser in the call he made to King Hissein in the second day of the war. "we alreadu destryed Israeli Airforce and practically all the tanks and soldiers". At the end the story was another....Well we all know what really happened But then the same thinh happened in 1973, in Lebanon and also in Gaza for the second time.