Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: How the United States during these trying times would be wise to follow the example of the courageous nation of Israel

Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005 | 7:17 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. His column appears on Sunday and on occasion during the week.

Putting country over politics.

It seems like a novel idea, but it has been the way of statesmen since the affairs of man have demanded statesmenlike actions. The ability to deny pull of political gravity in favor of a greater good may explain why we have so few statesmen in our lives and times. Most people just can't get out of their own self-centered ways.

Lest you think I am talking about United States and its need for people to come forward who will lead for right reasons and not just political considerations (sounds Pollyannish, know), I am not. I am talking about a country in the Middle East from which the rest of the world continues learn, the way it has since the beginning of time.

In Israel's almost 60 years as a recognized homeland for the Jewish people, it has defied the rules of existence that have governed the rest of the planet. No country has ever survived war after constant war with the odds against it practically prohibitive. Israel has.

No country has ever managed to stay firmly democratic amid the chaos that a parliamentary system like no other existing seems to require as a basis for governance. Israel has.

And no country has ever succeeded in the face of an overwhelming desire on the part of the rest of the world, at one time or another, that it fail. Israel has.

As the history books continue to be written about the incredible, odds-defying existence of Israel, there will be a few names that will be associated with her tumultuous past. David ben-Gurion, Teddy Kollek and Golda Meir are three such names that spring to mind of people who have stepped well above and beyond the call of political party and philosophy when events on the ground demanded such leadership.

Once again, Israel needs the leadership of statesmen if it is to forge for itself a future that will carry at least the promise of peace and the hope that children -- all children in the region -- will know war no more.

For certain, Prime Minster Ariel Sharon is a man whose name is synonymous with leadership. Tough, no-nonsense and enlightened leadership. He has the ability to lead and the support of the people of Israel to take them toward a future of peace with her neighbors.

But ability and desire aren't always enough. Israel has had great leaders who have sustained her through terrible wars, but so far the peace has been elusive.

For that you need someone who can dream of peace and who can paint the pictures that capture a people's imagination in a way that allows them to see it, too. That man is Shimon Peres.

For over six decades, Peres has been a leader, a mentor, a member and a hard and fast disciple of the left-leaning Labor Party in Israel. It was the enlightened party that led Israel to success in the early days and, like many of the more liberal parties around globe, it has fallen to the wayside in favor of the more conservative parties of the right. In Israel's case, that has been the Likud Party, the party of Sharon.

Likud is no longer the party of Sharon. Not dissimilar to that which is happening in the United States, Likud has been torn apart from within as the right-wing elements of that have wrested control from those, such as Sharon, who see a more pragmatic path toward Israel's future.

That rift between the far right elements and the more moderate members of the party has forced Sharon start a third major party called Kadima. As a very popular prime minister, Sharon expects that his new party will be supported by enough Israelis to keep him in power so that he can continue his own march toward peace with Israel's Arab neighbors.

That could not happen unless a man of Peres' stature also left the party that gave him voice, gave him meaning and gave him a political lifetime.

For without the other side of the middle giving support to Sharon, Kadima would be just another party, and who knows what would be in store for an Israel unable to deliver a mandate at the upcoming elections.

Peres left the Labor Party this past week and threw his support to his longtime political rival, Sharon. He did that because he shares Sharon's vision for peace with the Palestinians and the other Arab countries with whom Israel must have peace, and he knows that without a broad mandate from the Israeli people, peace will remain just a dream.

When he joined the Likud government last year as a representative of Labor, Peres was doing what he thought best for Israel, but within the comfort zone of the only political party he has known. This time it is different. He has quit the political party that made him who he is.

Ask any moderate Republican in the United States you know to do the same for the good of our country, and he will tell you that you are asking too much. And there is the difference.

Politics still reign supreme in the United States. Statesmanship has a place of honor in the Jewish state. We would do well to learn this lesson from the people of Israel.