(Yissi verter-Haaretz).Forty years ago, while leading a force from the elite Sayeret Matkal special-operations unit along a narrow path on an unknown mission, Benjamin Netanyahu, then a young officer, reached an impasse. Facing him was a huge boulder, which blocked the way; on the right a deep abyss yawned. There seemed to be only one option - to return to base without executing the mission. Netanyahu chose a different path: He grabbed hold of the vegetation covering the boulder and thus, hanging between earth and sky, he managed to pull himself over the rock so as to reach the continuation of the path on the other side. The prime minister likes to tell this story to friends from time to time. On the eve of the formation of the government, he likened the huge gamble he had taken by placing his last chips on Ehud Barak, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Ofer Eini to the decision he made on that path.
Is the speech he is scheduled to deliver Sunday at Bar-Ilan University the boulder on his political path? Is it the rock of his existence? How will he behave this time, at the age of 60, when he is more cautious, less courageous and steeped in personal failures and political debacles? Will he turn around and retrace his footsteps or will he conquer his fears and utter the two words that none of his predecessors in the last two decades (with the exception of Yitzhak Shamir) recoiled from saying: "Palestinian state"?
In a private conversation this week, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak described Netanyahu as "needing to cross a deep abyss" in his Sunday speech. Maybe Barak knows the story too. He is overflowing with empathy for Netanyahu these days. "Look," the defense minister tells his friends, "he faces a very tough dilemma, which obliges him to make a real decision. That is no simple matter for Bibi."
Barak asked his party's cabinet ministers and the few MKs who still listen to him to adopt a moderate tone when speaking to the media: to express the hope that Netanyahu will follow in the path outlined in the road map and accept the principle of the two-state solution, but also to show understanding for his situation.
