Building Bridges: Now is not the time to punish Olmert

In a respectful, official and honest manner, without bold statements and dramatic speeches, Ehud Barak announced that despite the political temptation to oust Olmert and present himself a political alternative, he was choosing to stay in the government for the good of the country and to achieve personal goals.

There are no objections to the fact that in the short-term, the option to dissolve the coalition is the best possible scenario Barak could face; crushing Kadima, fulfilling his promise to go to elections and displaying responsibility and moral values which would have played to his advantage mere hours after he would have announced his resignation from the government.

Furthermore, pulling Labor from the government and going to elections would have completely obliterated Olmert's political future and would have cleared the way for Labor to return to the center of Israel's political sphere.

However, Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Barak decided to choose option 2; the harder, unpopular option but the necessary one for Israel. Barak understood that immediate withdrawal from the government would essentially mean the complete collapse of the governing system in Israel, new elections and the halting of all processes started by the government; from rehabilitating the IDF to furthering the principles outlined at Annapolis and jump-starting peace talks with the Palestinians. Punishing Olmert is an important process whose time will come, but the dismantling of the government would have been punishment for the whole country. It would have created a situation of authoritative, political and national anarchy.

In choosing to stay in the government, Barak will be forced to pay a heavy public and political price. The continued existence of the coalition provides Olmert with an authorization certificate (even if temporary) to keep serving as the PM. The decision is in fact a violation of public commitment towards the voter and provides Kadima and its members with a precious and important window of opportunity to recover politically and to rehabilitate its public standing. Without a doubt, from a political perspective, Barak's decision is catastrophic. But from a national perspective, the decision is a ray of sunshine with regards to national responsibility.

Labor Secretary-General MK Eitan Cabel is correct when he says that the Labor Party is due to pay a heavy price for the courageous and responsible decision of Barak. Indeed, the good of the party has been swept aside for the good of the country as a whole. There's hope that once the murky waves of criticism and slander at home and abroad pass, the public will recognize that Barak made an unpopular and almost impossible decision for the good of the country.

Currently, there is still hope that Labor's position in the government is not in vain and with the encouragement from the peace camp, Olmert will fulfill his promises and act decisively to further a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians. If Labor remains paralyzed within the government and treads aimlessly with Kadima, with no political agenda and no way forward, the current move by Barak will cost the Labor party and the left-wing in general dearly.

Barak has the responsibility to ensure that his decision to stay is based on the will to move forward with the peace process, including the dismantling and immediate evacuation of settlements and putting a construction-freeze on outposts. This all has to be done simultaneously with ensuring that the proper lessons drawn from the war in the military and defense fields are implemented.