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Last update - 10:53 26/09/2008 I? I want this? By Yossi Sarid Tags: Israel News Ever since she was elected head of Kadima, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been associated with Golda Meir: From Golda to Tzipi, there has been no female prime minister of Israel. Golda was a limited personality, and as someone limited, she was accepted, very much so. That she was limited was not because she was a woman, or because she was "the only real man in the government," but rather because of her character and capabilities. The Milwaukee English she spoke was good, but it did not improve bad policy. Livni would do well not to step into Golda's shoes. "When it is very quiet here / after the storm and before it / I hear her footsteps clearly / heavy as a jailer's footsteps / among the darkened cells of our minds" ?(from "Poems 2003-2005"?). Advertisement In March 1969, prime minister Levi Eshkol died, and the party/national leadership met in secret to decide who would replace the departed. All the kingmakers and queenmakers were there: Pinhas Sapir, Yehoshua Rabinowitz, Yisrael Galili, Lova Eliav and another three or four of "our comrades," whose names I cannot recall at the moment. And Golda chaired the meeting. I too participated, in some unclear capacity, and in vague circumstances that are hard to reconstruct. The meeting had a clear purpose, about which one does not speak aloud: how to block the "young Turks," Yigal Allon and Moshe Dayan, from reaching the top. The names of straw candidates came up and were dropped, and everyone waited expectantly for the ineffable name that would come up in the end, after all the circling around and around. Then Lova Eliav stood up. "I think," he said, "that Golda should be prime minister." And he gave the reason: "Because she wants it most." A hush descended, and only the swallowing of saliva was heard. Rabinowitz tried to express indignation and seemed about to vomit, wiping cold sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. Galili, as was his wont, roamed hither and thither, in the grip of cogitations that made him hard of hearing, and heard nothing. Sapir, after a moment of silence, hummed a Hasidic melody and drummed lightly with a heavy finger. And I burst out laughing, but only to myself. Golda's face turned greenish with disgust, and planted in her chair, she hissed without moving her lips: "What are you talking about - me? I want this? I? Want this? What's happened to you, Lova?" Lova, in her opinion, was not "nice." Had a stun grenade been lobbed into the room, we could not have been more stupefied. Had Lova exposed his abdomen and committed hara-kiri before our very eyes, spilling his entrails onto the table, we could not have been more amazed. To this day, I do not know whether he spoke those words naively or cunningly - words that in a stroke stripped the queen and her queenmakers, suddenly rendering them naked. Some day, I'll ask him. Golda, of course, bowed to the will of the movement. Now, 40 years later, it is hard for me to decide which is more repugnant - Golda's self-indulgent self-righteousness or the blatant arrogance of Ehud (Olmert and Barak), Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu), Shaul (Mofaz), and Tzipi, too. In the face of the wheeler-dealers and the vote contractors and the clan chiefs and the union chiefs and the fellow travelers, and at the sight of the choleric cartons being carted off to be counted, I might yet wax nostalgic for the smoke-filled room Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fighting words Nasrallah: Jerusalem and Palestine will soon be returned to rightful owners. Paul Newman dies 'Exodus' star and legendary actor Paul Newman succumbs to cancer at age 83.

Read & React Report: U.S. said no to Israeli strike on Iran Responses: 191 Leftist prof.: Bomb attack shows settler violence spilling over Green Line Responses: 116 Survey: American Jews favor Obama over McCain Responses: 99 Mossad chief fights Iran nuclear program his own way Responses: 49 Nasrallah: Return of Jerusalem and Palestine isn't far Responses: 128 More Headlines 01:03 Sec. Council demands Iran halt enrichment, reaffirms old sanctions 23:46 Livni and Mofaz speak for first time since Kadima primary 00:08 17 killed in massive car bombing in Damascus 01:09 ANALYSIS / Damascus bomb is latest event to shake Syrian security 23:58 Syrian FM: Peace negotiations with Israel stalled 22:46 Legendary actor Paul Newman dies after struggle with cancer 11:42 Israel's unseeded Dudi Sela reaches finals of China Open 16:37 Nablus man attempts to kill mother-in-law with poisoned sweets 03:44 Nasrallah: Return of Jerusalem and Palestine closer than ever 20:12 In first debate, Obama and McCain trade blows over Iran policy, Iraq war 03:53 Palin: We mustn't send Iran message U.S. would allow second Holocaust 23:20 German FM: Ahmadinejad's UN speech 'blatant anti-Semitism' 00:00 Palestinians attack settlers visiting the Tomb of the Patriarchs 01:22 Fire destroys main hall of Egypt's National Theater Previous Editions Select Day 26 sep 25 sep 24 sep 23 sep 22 sep 21 sep 19 sep 18 sep 17 sep 16 sep 15 sep 14 sep

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