Be a man, freeze the settlements
Netanyahu must not wait; if he tries to please everyone, he will slide down the slippery slope until he is kicked out of office once again.
By Aluf BennLeaders are tested by their ability to spot opportunities and leverage them for their own benefit. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now has such an opportunity. He must convene the cabinet on Sunday and inform it that the freeze on settlement construction will be extended by three months, during which he will conduct intensive negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the future border between Israel and Palestine. From the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu must set out for his residence on Balfour Street, invite Abbas there and present him with a daring, unexpected and original map of the border.
What would Netanyahu achieve? First of all, he would surprise everyone. They expect him to be evasive and to surrender to pressure from the settlers and the right, who are demanding that settlement expansion resume. They think he is unwilling and unable to promote a peace treaty centered around withdrawal from the West Bank, and that all his speeches and promises were designed to buy time. But if he placed the "Bibi map" on the table, he would prove his seriousness, and the discussion would be about details rather than his credibility.
Second, Netanyahu would take the initiative and lead the agenda, instead of being dragged behind Abbas and U.S. President Barack Obama, who are portraying him as a rejectionist. Instead of conducting a defensive war from an inferior position, as he has done until now, Netanyahu would seize the strategic hilltop. That is what Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and prime minister Menachem Begin did when they drew up a separate peace agreement and neutralized U.S. president Jimmy Carter's comprehensive peace initiative. That is what Ariel Sharon did with his disengagement from Gaza, which removed all other ideas from the agenda.
Third, the Bibi map would force Abbas to decide quickly whether he is a partner for a deal or only a propagandist who wants to cling to power and embarrass Israel. A fourth Palestinian rejection of a partition offer - after the UN Partition Plan of November 29, 1947, Camp David and Annapolis - would give Netanyahu freedom of action and alleviate Israel's international isolation. But if Obama were smart enough to twist Abbas' arm and get him to say "yes," there would be a big bang in the Middle East: The moderate axis would be strengthened against the radical axis led by Iran, and the credit would go to Netanyahu.
Fourth, Abbas has proposed focusing on borders and security, and accepting his proposal would be very advantageous for Israel. The more generous Netanyahu is in drawing the border, the more he can receive on the security issue. Drawing the border would enable the sides to discuss the future instead of the past, promote the establishment of a Palestinian state and postpone discussion of the "narrative" demands - recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and a "right of return" for Palestinian refugees - so that they would end up neutralizing each other.
Fifth, Netanyahu doesn't even want to build in the settlements. He understands that it's folly, that it won't contribute a thing to Israel, that it will paint Israel as recalcitrant and extremist and weaken its position in the negotiations. His excuse for not extending the freeze - that it's an unfair precondition being posed by Abbas, while Netanyahu himself is ignoring the incitement against Israel in the PA - is weak and unconvincing. There is also incitement in Israeli government circles (Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ) and vocal opposition to the negotiations (Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman and Interior Minister Eli Yishai ). Expanding the settlements is meant to prevent the division of the land and to undermine the objectives that Netanyahu himself proclaims. Why should he work against himself by resuming construction? Sixth, no deal with the settlers would help Netanyahu - not construction "only in the settlement blocs," not an undeclared freeze with "exceptions," not "natural growth." They would fight him in any case, and would only paint him as a pathetic dishrag. Instead of crawling to them, he must stand up to them like a man and say: That's enough. He must challenge Yishai and Lieberman to decide whether they are in the government or against it. Seventh, drawing the border would make it clear once and for all which territories Israel will annex - and in those, it will be able to build freely - and which settlements will be frozen now and evacuated later. In that way, the oppressive cloud of the settlements would be lifted from Israeli-American relations and Netanyahu would be able to justly claim that he was more successful than his predecessors at getting the settlement blocs included in Israel and expanding the Green Line's narrow and threatening waist near Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Netanyahu must not wait. His political status is at an all-time high, and he must exploit the opportunity and embark on a peace initiative now. He has to take a risk and take sides. If he tries to please everyone, he will slide down the slippery slope until he is kicked out of office once again.
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There were no feasts in Cairo when Hilary was nominated Secretary of State. The Clintons didn't even understand why Oslo unraveled. It was because the settlements stink, Israel stinks and America stinks. Trillions of world commercial, government and NGO funds have been diverted to war in the last decade of two because of the stinking settlements. Israel is drunk with power. And America keeps filling its cup. From The Pyramids, Jeffrey
Dear Aluf Benn, the saner voices of humanity and peace in the region' s second democracy will fall on deaf ears because your are asking a man for freezing the settlement , since such strong-willed man is extinct in Israel and Netanyahu and his team are super-humans, you cannot expect any thing , rather more polarization and failure of peace talks.
why bother the peace efforts from all the countries involved if a simple fundamental requirement as settlement freeze is still an issue for israel... just go to war and get everybody killed..
"A fourth Palestinian rejection of a partition offer - after the UN Partition Plan of November 29, 1947, Camp David and Annapolis - would give Netanyahu freedom of action and alleviate Israel's international isolation" So, you are suggesting that Bibi draws irrational borders that the palestinians will surely reject, just so that Israel gains "freedom of action" in occupied land? what kind of twisted strategy is this. I think it is time we wake up and gain some touch with reality. The longer the occupation drags the worse our situation will be. The occupation is making us lose moral and ethical grounds and soon the entire world will turn its back on us. We have to seek real and JUST peace with our palestinian neighbours and that can only happen if we first recognize our moral responsibility and secondly orchestrate a JUST solution for both peoples. G.
"kicked out of office again..."? Ha! You wish.
"kicked out of office again..."? Ha! You wish.
His father, Ben Zion Netanyahu. A few quotes Netanyahu the Elder will suffice: "[The coming war with the Arabs] will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them.” "Q: You don’t like the Arabs, to say the least. A: “The bible finds no worse image than this of the man from the desert. And why? Because he has no respect for any law. Because in the desert he can do as he pleases. The tendency towards conflict is in the essence of the Arab. He is an enemy by essence. His personality won’t allow him any compromise or agreement. It doesn’t matter what kind of resistance he will meet, what price he will pay. His existence is one of perpetuate war.” I* Q: So what's the solution? A: “No solution but force… strong military rule. Any outbreak will bring upon the Arabs enormous suffering. We shouldn’t wait for a big mutiny to start, but rather act immediately with great force to prevent them from going on… If it’s possible, we should conquer any disputed territory in the land of Israel. Conquer and hold it, even if it brings us years of war. We should conquer Gaza, and parts of the Galil, and the Golan. This will bring upon us a bloody war, since war is difficult for us – we don’t have a lot of territory, while the Arabs have lots of space to retreat to. But that’s the only way to survive here.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzion_Netanyahu
an excellent pleading;bibi be a wise man and embrace it;history will praise you and mankind will bless you
It has Benn nice. And, it has Benn real. But, Benn has not been real nice. Build, Baby! Build!
The reason Kadima did not join the coalition initially is that Netnayahu ran for elections on a policy of "no Palestinian state" (only autonomy), and he was not ready to expose himself as a fraud right after the elections and announce that he actually accepts a Palestinian state. That took him 4 months to do (in a speech in June 2009). But now, that his policy is similar to Kadima, they can join. Why don't they? They want their share of ministries, which can be found only if the Lieberman party is ejected from the Coalition. Fair enough, because Lieberman is not going to support sincere peace negotiations. Why doesn't Netanyahu simply remove Lieberman and his party from the government? here is another problem: Netanyahu is a political coward. He is afraid that the hardliners in Likud will join Lieberman and that after the next elections, the Lieberman party will be the largest. Netanyahu is not courageous enough and sincere enough to do what is right. He is now waiting for the Attorney General to decide whether Lieberman should be indicted for corruption, as the police investigators and the state prosecutor have recommended. The final decision will come in less than half a year. If Lieberman is indicted, he will be out of the political system for a few years, so Netanyahu will then bring in Kadima. As long as he doesn't take political risks, Netanyahu feels strong...
Netnayahu ran for elections on a policy of "no Palestinian state" (only autonomy), and he was not ready to expose himself as a fraud right after the elections and announce that he actually accepts a Palestinian state. That took him 4 months to do (in a speech in June 2009). As of now, Netanyahu refrained from taking a vote in the government about this change in policy, nor in Likud. Will Netanyahu dare to go all the way for peace and then have to "face the music" of the hardliners? I hope so, but one wouldn't know until the very end. Barak is braver, and also needs peace more because otherwise his party will pull out of the coalition and he will lose his job. But even Barak got cold feet in Shepherdstown when he was to complete the negotiations of peace with Syria. Let us hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
ISRAEL:The Beloved, The Apple Of God's Eyes! When the whole world is against them, God's mercy and protection shall over-shadow His beloved! Netanyahu at his best Even those who aren't particularly sympathetic to Benjamin Netanyahu could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview with British Television during the retaliation against Hamas' shelling of Israel . The interviewer asked him: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" (A nasty question if there ever was one) Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction? Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) Why not? Netanyahu: "Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany 's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London , the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden , burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima ... Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen , some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?" Apparently, Benjamin Netanyahu gave another interview and was asked about Israel 's occupation of Arab lands. His response was, "It's our land". The reporter (CNN or the like) was stunned - read below "It's our land..." It's important information since we don't get fair and accurate reporting from the media and facts tend to get lost in the jumble of daily events. "Crash Course on the Arab-Israeli Conflict." Here are overlooked facts in the current & past Middle East situation. These were compiled by a Chris tian university professor: BRIEF FACTS ON THE ISRAELI CONFLICT TODAY... (It takes just 1.5 minutes to read!) It makes sense and it's not slanted. Jew and non-Jew -- it doesn't matter. 1. Nationhood and Jerusalem : Israel became a nation in 1312 BC, two thousand (2000) years before the rise of Islam.... Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel .. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BC, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand (1000) years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years. 4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 lasted no more than 22 years. 5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem , they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit. 6) Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran. 7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem . Mohammed never came to Jerusalem . 8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem . Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem . 9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: in 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews . Sixty-eight percent left (many in fear of retaliation by their own brethren, the Arabs), without ever seeing an Israeli soldier. The ones who stayed were afforded the same peace, civility, and citizenship rights as everyone else. 10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms. 11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same. 12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel , a country no larger than the state of New Jersey ... 13. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: the Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won. 14. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel . Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them. 15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Chris tian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths. 16. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel . 17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel . 18. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians. 19. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives . 20. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like a policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren about what we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference? START NOW - Send this to 18 other people you know and ask them to send it to eighteen others, Jew and non-Jew - it doesn't really matter
...go the way of Rabin
ooops sorry. Actually the whole world say it! Thanks for bringing up to Israeli public again.
Aluf Ben. Be a man and freeze your tongue.
not been mehoomot (=riots) on Friday... now it might look like capitulation... oye, what difficult decision time...
Aluf benn, Be a man and get the hell out of israel and take with you all leftist akiva sarid bellin burg ,levy hass and you name it
Israel has less than one year to determine its future. Abbas can not remain in power much longer. The IDF can not win many more wars. The US can not continue to shield Israel. Once the US is weak enough and the Arabs are strong enough, the Arabs will impose their solution on Israel which will mean Jews will be banished from the ME for a very long time. If Israel wants to exist as a mostly Jewish state, then a viable, contiguous Palestine MUST exist. This means Israel MUST give up lots of land, water, cash and apologies for 1947 and everything that came after. Anything less will just eventually lead to war, which Israel will lose because the IDF can NOT win every war from now until forever. The choices are really that obvious and stark and the sooner Bibi is honest with Israelis, the better it will be for everyone.
...or the status quo, until Israel fall in 20 years as the CIA report predicts
...your reward for peace will probably be to join Rabin
Netanyahu was once a man, then he chose to become a politician. His current status as a depraved, degenerate monster is his own choice. Do not expect courage from someone who has chosen to become a criminal vermin.
What a clarion call for sanity, for strategy, and for simplicity. It reads like a call to arms that all can endorse. If Netanyahu reads it, he must be moved. Well, I hope so.
God's covenant promises Isreal land from the Euphrates to the Nile. Giving away any land currenrly under Isreal's control is not the right decision.
Haaretz .......... gives me hope . Aluf Benn, Are there others like you ? ........ enough to make a difference ?
of the old two step. It is old and tiresome and the world is growing impatient with these theatrics.
WHOS SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Ha!!!! Bibi has no backbone or is so blinded by clinging to his position, that he rather cater to these settlers than advancing the peace process. !!! He will be sorry when he has to face, ALONE, that axis of evil in the near future. I am truly disgusted at his shanigans....truly...!
instead of a grubby politician desperately trying to hold onto power by appeasing his ultra-right coalition.
Of course you'll join Rabin within days, if not hours. But it will be the first honest act towards the Palestinians by any Israeli Prime Minister in 62 years.
Abbas keeps making overtures of peace while Netanyahu keeps hiding behind Israeli security fears. However much of those fears relate to the government policies on settlements. Continued settlement construction and importation of Jews to those settlements simply is cause for incitement. Israel commits money and political capital defending and expanding the settlements at a significant cost to the survivability of a democratic Israeli nation-state. Netanyahu has more potential for effecting peace by courageously leading the zealots in that direction, he either lacks the courage, vision or fortitude.
After Abbas receives such a map he has absolutely no need to negotiate about anything. It is all that is needed for Obama to go to establish Pali state in the WB inside commonly agreed borders in the UN. All refugee problems, right of return, would remain unsolved. Secondly even Obama regards settlements to be legal, but he has OPINION to get them out. In his speech to UN he said: "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." Also Mitchell confirmed a short while ago that they have an OPINION. Why in the world Bibi should destroy everything for Israel. The only result would be terrorist state in the WB without negotiations about anything. it would guarantee NO PEACE.
Enough of the bias and hypocrisy from the international community. When will they act against crimes against hunmanity of Hamas criminals in Gaza and stop bashing Israe ?
Netnayahu ran for elections on a policy of "no Palestinian state" (only autonomy), and he was not ready to expose himself as a fraud right after the elections and announce that he actually accepts a Palestinian state. That took him 4 months to do (in a speech in June 2009). As of now, Netanyahu refrained from taking a vote in the government about this change in policy, nor in Likud. Will Netanyahu dare to go all the way for peace and then have to "face the music" of the hardliners? I hope so, but one wouldn't know until the very end. Barak is braver, and also needs peace more because otherwise his party will pull out of the coalition and he will lose his job. But even Barak got cold feet in Shepherdstown when he was to complete the negotiations of peace with Syria. Let us hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
This issue is particularly revealing of elements in Netanyahu's personality. First, a basic principle. If you are discussing with another side sharing the land (or a pizza), it cannot be done while one party keeps devouring the land (or the pizza). Some form of a freeze is obviously a necessary condition for peace talks. If this thought did not occur to netanyahu on his own, he could have gotten a clue from the fact that the Roadmap included a freeze in the FIRST phase. This is basic. What decision did the Netanyahu government take? 1. The freeze applies to outside the current line of buildings, not to building WITHIN the currently built area. 2. The freeze will last for only 10 months. 3. The freeze will not be renewed. What do these elements indicate? The first element shows that Netanyahu has some sense of realism, and understands that a territorial exchange is acceptable to the Palestinians, so he takes advantage of it. The two other points are clearly unreal. Was it conceivable that the talks will be concluded in only 10 months? Would the Palestinians even conceive of talking peace with no freezing? I think Netanyahu has enough realism to realize that, but since he was dealing with his right wing partners Lieberman and most of Likud members, he decided to deceive them for now, present a nicer picture, and when the time comes he would try to wriggle out of it. All this shows Netanyahu as a creature of pressure; when pressured he acts, many times deceptively. Ultimately, he is not a courageous leader. He did not fight out the good fight then. Now he will pay some extra political cost for cheating his followers.
As Ha'aretz one time contributor noted, Israel froze settlements with international agreement that the freeze would last 10 months, as a good faith gesture and with the understanding that after those 10 months the freeze would not be renewed except if significant progress towards an agreement was made. If the international community pressures Israel to now continue the Freeze, and the palestinians quit talks, it will mean that any agreement with the Palestinians or the international community isn't worth the toliet paper its written on. Don't freeze construction again, if you do, Israelis will have no faith in any agreement.
Aluf Benn is totally correct!
Before Mr Benn started lecturing and pontificating to Bibi on what he "must do", he should have read Barak Ravid's report in this very same newspaper - which states that at a meeting with American Jewish leaders Abu Mazen "hinted' that he would NOT walk out of the negotiations if Bibi does not prolong the settlement freeze after 26 September! Presumably Bibi (or his advisers) HAVE read Ravid's piece!
:-)
There is no need to "freeze" anything any longer - they had 10 months, they refused to sit down and talk - the guiding principal is 2 states for 2 peoples, they refuse to accept that one of those peoples (Jews) has a right to a state - they do not wish to negotiate, they wish to demand - this is not acceptable, and there is no reason to push any blame on Netanyahu - since Oslo, settlement building has never been an obstacle to peace talks, it should not be now - they either want to negotiate or they don't, Netanyahu has gone further than any other PM, and he needs not take another step. Every concession weakens Israel physically as well as weakening our negotiating power - they should not gat anything else without giving.
Israel's srength can only be achieved by making a just peace with their neighbours. Be sure of this fact and read again the (long) history of jews(real jews).
Israel has ignored International Law for 62 years, completely against it's own Declaration and it's admittance to the UN
obama and our european critics do not think and worry about us.we are of little importance to them. we must not give up the high land of judea and samaria.they will prove to be an unending and supremely important defense for our future generations.
no matter the size.that is a given. then keep the hills of judea and samaria.they are our strategic protection.without the hills we are defenseless on the plains of israel.
They are there to protect Palestinian and Israeli civilians
Quite simple really...except for criminal idiots who believe in a Greater Israel, which was shot down by Israel Declaring itself a Sovereignty "…. within frontiers approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its Resolution of November 29, 1947," http://wp.me/pDB7k-tM
we would gain nothing by stopping the settlements from building.we would be seen as weak and malleable. aluf benn mixes up the personal with the important.this is not abour netanyahu and his future.it is not about the reaction of the settlers. it is about the future of the jewish state.
i am palestian, ok , take what ever land , eat the whole cake, and leave us the leftover. but dont come back and say i feel little hungry i need that slice...that is the problem
Inspite of my critiques about your previous opinions concerning the behaviour of israeli soldiers in the battle fields against innocent palestinian people , i agree , Mr.Benn, with all what you have stated in your excellent article of today. I would say to Netanyahu: Be a real historic leader of the jews across the future centuries and even a HERO in the minds and eyes of moslem people, by stopping expansion and making an end to the deceiving pathways for a permanent peace with all your neighbours.
Grow up!
The strongest part of the weakest argument is a personal insult - and so this columnist has no argument other than to insult. America was built on conquests and has 400 native reservations where native Americans can sit and look at what was once theirs. Same as other nations. Would the Arabs give back Israel or one meter of land had the Jews been thrown into sea? Never.
From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." -Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, Nez Perce: "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain"), 1877, Bear Paw Mountain, Montana Territory If you want to put it that way, in terms of colonialism and conquest, then you will have a long long fight on your hands because the Arabs have a lot of fight left in them--Israel is not now, and never will be, anywhere near a position to be able to dictate conquest to the native Palestinians as the Native Americans were dictated to. So this kind of language about conquest is revealing both of the Israeli Right's mentality and it's ultimate futility. The Arabs Tribe will fight forever your Jewish Tribe and you won't win--better to settle for a secure peace within recognized 67 borders and give up on "greater" Israel.
The difference is that today, Native Americans are U.S. citizens. Yes, there was an ethnic cleansing two centuries ago (but not a genocide). But bubbalah, two wrongs don't make a right.
Be a man, a responsible human being, and not a mouse, and don't go back on your word.
That is why his public acceptance is high....
Here is idea No.8: the "green line" is a UN invention which is irrelevant as long as the Arabs don't recognize the right of Israel to exist as Jewish, democratic, Zionist state.
There is no legal obligation for ANY non-state entity to declare independence, nor can there ever be. It is entirely a unilateral decision and undertaking. Israel is officially called "the State of Israel" It is in the Declaration which you have obviously not bothered to read. Recognition is only given by the actual name of the state, no matter how many idiotic additions you make
The future borders of the Palestinian state cannot be subject to Netanyahu's 'generosity', of which he has nothing to spare. The future borders have been decided in Taba and the discussions should concentrate on the necessary adjustments. Netanyahu however is on record that Israel 'must' remain along the Jordan for a 'long time'. No Mr. Benn, the 'talks' are dead in the water. Kaput.
the same coalition government understood the reasoning for the duration of this freeze in the West Bank, so that the parties would negotiate the borders of their already accepted two states scenario. (See Bar Elan Speech) But for many reasons, the talks were held up and it's been requested to extend the freeze for delineating the boundaries for the two states, which once again, these coalition members agreed to in the first place. So in fact, they don't have legitimate reasons not to extend the freeze because they know what's the purpose behind the freeze in construction - to meet their objective as well! It's like a student requesting an extension date for a college paper deadline in order to produce a comprehensive report, because otherwise the professor would interpret that the student has no intention to hand in a paper. Most professors are not heartless and grant an extension because it really makes no difference.
We have seen the previous "generous" maps of cantons and color codes...There is still too much blue...