Nervous Anticipation

There is nervous anticipation in the air. Starting this evening, President Peres begins his festival of consultations during which he will try to identify the most promising prospect to form the next government. Both Likud and Kadima have stuck to their scripts, each claiming their right to the role. Lieberman, as we have noted, escaped the warm up act entirely and is arriving home this evening just in time for the main show. His lips were tight in Minsk, not letting on where he stands. And now he is savoring the effect that the dramatic unfolding of his support is sure to bring. His timing is exquisite; the whole country is waiting for Yvette.

The other major issue consuming Israelis is the fate of Gilad Shalit and the new decision to connect his release to the current ceasefire talks with Hamas. Amos Gilad, the highly professional IDF negotiator who has been dealing with Egypt on the arrangements, is furious that he has become a pawn in whatever game outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is playing. He was sent to Cairo numerous times over the last several weeks to finalize an Egyptian sponsored ceasefire that showed progress on the Shalit issue but kept it on a separate track. All of a sudden Gilad finds that Olmert changed lanes on him while he was speeding ahead in his negotiations, placing both Gilad and the state in a precarious situation.  By this afternoon, the security cabinet voted to endorse the new linkage as proposed by Olmert and now demands the release of Shalit before the border crossings to Gaza are opened. While this will undoubtedly be applauded by most Israelis, Gilad is fuming.  As he told Ben Caspit in Ma'ariv:

"I don't understand what it is that they're trying to do. To insult the Egyptians? We've already insulted them. It's madness. It's simply madness. Egypt has remained almost our last ally here. For what? After all, it's damaging to national security. Our very essence here is a choice between bad alternatives to worse ones and even worse ones. The Egyptians have shown extraordinary courage. They've given us maneuvering room, they're trying to mediate, they're investing efforts, they're showing goodwill of a kind they've never shown before."