I disagree. Mr. Peres is well respected and known by many world leaders. Israel has few individuals with the assets he brings to diplomacy and Israel would be well served if he works in those circles. Respectfully, Josef Cohen

very true excellent article

I normally have a hard time reading Yaron Lonon's commentary. This peace, oops piece on Peres was a delight. The Israeli right was saying, "Go home Shimon before you humiliate yourself any more," since Oslo was signed. A wave of "Go home Shimon" erupted again when he stood beside Arafat smirking with his Nobel prize. Now, suddenly Yaron London wakes up and realizes Peres is a humiliation to the country? Welcome to the club, we've kept your seat warm for the last ten years. Charles Samuel www.charlessamuel.blogspot.com

on a beautiful article . as to the letter of mr yozef from bangkok . the fact that he is respected doesn't mean a thing for the country any longer . respected people are a dime a dozen . in most civilised countries (that is distinct from the former eastern european block pseudo democracy) , there is a limit on how long one could hold to office . peres could hardly claim that he was ever elected to office outside his own party and by a popular vote . even his beloved poland has long since become a democracy and joined nato, enough !

What is truly amazing is that this article and others have to "plead" with Peres to move aside. In other countries which are democracies once the voters have spoken the politicians go away. Not so in Israel. It seems that in Israeli "democracy" no matter which voters, or how many times, or when, or in what context...the will of the people does not prevent the politicians from continuing along in one high office after another. The problem is not with Shimon Peres. The problem is with the system in Israel that has no mechanism to put politicians out to pasture when the voters have spoken.

Peres arranged for Peretz and his failed Am Echad factionette to join Labor. Peretz then flooded the party through the use of forgeries. So perhaps Peres has some cause to feel a little cheated. But actually he really should retire in any case. He should enjoy some time with his family in his senior days and not work himself to death.

No, Mr. London. Kadima is not using Mr. Peres. Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres are the all-too silent center of the country. Let the radical right go down with the Likud and the left with Labor. The Kadima platform is what this venerable statesman (who, by the way is anything but an annoying bee) has always stood for: security, fighting terror, a unfied Jerusalem and a humane social program. Mr. Peres should put his name in the hat with Mr. Sharon and help move the country Kadima.

What man in Israeli politics has never won an election, committed traitorous acts with foreign governments, sided with Israel's enemies time and again and may even be complicit in the death of Rabin? Why Shimon Peres, of course. He is a disgrace to Israel and a traitor. Instead of being retired, he should be imprisoned for the remainder of his miserable life. Thanks to him we got Oslo and Oslo 2, and hundreds of dead Jews.

Perhaps coincidental, this past week's haftara begins with "And David the king was old and exhausted in years..."The remainder of the chapter deals with the selection of his successor, Solomon. The commentators say that David's age of seventy years was not the factor in his retirement but his exhaustion, having fought and lead the people of Israel for forty years. Shimon, King David is an illustrious role model.

Yaron London have modestly chosen to speak only in the name of the Israeli "body politic" (?) , which apparently named him to claim that it is tired of Shimon Peres. It is YL's right to be desperately sick and tired of the seemingly Peres' incapacity to bring the Left to lead this nation. It is also his right to hope that Peretz is the man with the capacity to do it and be dissonantly nervous about Peres being still around and doing, maybe, some harm to Peretz's prospects. But the spiteful, harsh tone of the article, with the pretension to care about Peres' legacy, is in line with the general tone of our political discourse: abilities & merits in serving the nation are of marginal importance; politicians are judged exclusively by their electoral accomplishments. If you have an Arab mother, if you intend to divide Jerusalem, if you don't know to enlist many thousands of new followers to vote for you for the party leadership, you are a pain, no matter what you can still do for the country. How sad!

If you think this was harsh, read what Rabin had to say about Peres after the latter acted like a weasel in the late 70s, under cutting Rabin at every turn and blaming Rabin. Peres it is time for the weasel to go into its hole for the winter. In the spring, it can come out to vote.

No one likes a quitter. I'm sure that Peres still has more energy than most people half his age, he should still retire in my opinion though. His ideals are adequately represented by others and there is no shame in retiring at age 80.

There is no deep undercurrent of support for Amir Stalin - there is merely brief euphoria brought on by the first change evidenced in years, however, the israeli public certainly has no desire to go back to the bolshevism of the 1950's. once the dust has settled the Labor party will regret having chosen Peretz when it loses its entire electoral base. After all, if i want to vote for bolshevism, i can vote for the Israeli Communist Party (if I am anti-Zionist) or for Meretz if I am post-Zionist. I don't need another bolshy party.

It is not, as London suggests, that the Israeli body politic is tired of Peres so much that Labor is scared of him. Having elected as leader a naive and novice politician who has zip appeal to many important ethnic groups in Israel naturally Labor is now terrified that Peres will not just add great lustre to Sharon's new party but that he will also take many Labor supporters with him. Labor would be a disaster for Israel. Its economic policies which created so much of the mess in Israel to start with would condemn the Jewish nation to perpetual poverty. Labor's total inability to make peace would condemn Israel to perpetual war. Even outside of Israel in places where Sharon was once really hated it is now realised that he is Israel's only hope as regards peace and prosperity. London's voice is not one of reason but of fear and loathing.

While one can agree with the general gist of the article, pls remember that it is only in a democracy that you cannot force a politician to retire. Remember Nixon ? Lost 3 (2?) elections in a row and yet become a President (never mind how it actually turned out !). And, yes, if one talks of retiring Peres because of his age, pls remember that Arik is only 4 yrs younger. And maybe it is Israel's misfortune that they have never given him a proper mandate, instead of electing people like Shamir who cost Israel more lives than Peres. Just don't be ungrateful. Don't foregt who did the Czech arms deal, the French deal, the Entebbe rescue, withdrawal from Lebanon, etc. PS Mazel tov on the Arrow test. We will be deploying it soon ! Regards from India !

ok, now your baby peres is proven body for rent politician. peretz which u call names, is the elected leader of labor. why don't you take for rent peres to serve u in the ukaaaay ?!

I would like to discuss a private matter with Mr London my cellular is 050-7962518 thanks