This is going to be a short article, folks, if only because there?s nothing behind the ?peace? plan that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon presented at the recent Herzilya Conference ? nothing besides intellectual flap-doodle and moral cowardice.



Let us be honest, and let us not mince words ? especially now, when the lives of countless Jews are at stake, and not only in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. Like more than one of his predecessors, the prime minister of Israel is a cross between a cretin and a craven. Do you want a more polite or sophisticated explanation of what makes Ariel Sharon tick? Sorry, there ain?t none.



And please, enough of that shibboleth ?American pressure?: no loan guarantees, economic sanctions, and not a nut or bolt in the U.S. military supply line. That?s just the point. Succumbing to American pressure is precisely what makes Sharon a Lilliputian.



You want an alternative to such pusillanimity? Suppose Israel had a Jew as a prime minister ? and please don?t remind me of Sharon?s military courage. I?m talking about a different kind of courage. Suppose Israel?s prime minister was a Jew ? and what is a Jew if he lacks Jewish pride and Jewish vision? Suppose, I say, Israel?s Prime Minister was a Jew ? and perhaps it would be sufficient if he were just a man.



Suppose he were to hold an international press conference, which of course would have worldwide TV coverage. And suppose he said something like this:



?Israel is being blackmailed by the government of the United States ? and quite contrary to the sentiments of the American people. While the government of the United States does everything in its power to suppress Arab terrorism in Iraq, it expects Israel to fight Arab terrorism in Israel?s own backyard with one arm tied behind its back. Moreover, and contrary to its own basic principles, the government of the United States is pressuring Israel to reward Arab terrorism by making tens of thousands of Jews homeless in what is misleadingly called the ?West Bank?, but which every Christian knows is Judea and Samaria, the heartland of the Jewish People.



?With all due respect to, and affection for, the American people, the Jewish State of Israel will not yield to the government of the United States, not as long as I am the prime minister of this country. Let it be understood once and for all: The birthright of the Jewish People, which includes Judea and Samaria, is not negotiable. The Land of Israel was given to the Jewish People as an eternal inheritance by God Almighty, and it is to the God of Israel, and not to Washington, that I owe my first and paramount loyalty.



?Let no one think that Israel is helpless without the support of the government of the United States. Israel?s military power extends very far indeed, and I shall not hesitate to use this power in the event that it becomes necessary. I know very well what the economic prosperity of the world depends on, and I can assure you that it depends on what Israel chooses to do or refrains from doing.



?You will ask: ?But what about the Arabs in the so-called West Bank and Gaza?? If it comes to removing Jews or Arabs from this land, most assuredly it will not be Jews. A generation of Arab children have been educated to hate Jews and to emulate suicide bombers. We are going to put an end to this barbarism, and no one is going to stop us!?



Unfortunately, dear friends, Israel lacks such a prime minister. But let us not be deceived by its current poltroon.