Israeli General Goes Where Colin Powell Feared to Tread

JERUSALEM: Israel’s version of Colin Powell is out of the army and in the race for prime minister. Former Israeli army chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak is popular with the public and wants to run as a centrist solution. And just like Powell, he’s a little gun-shy about political specifics. “We must make peace among ourselves before we make peace with our neighbors,” was all Shahak would say after formally resigning his commission Thursday. After a 36-year military career during which he was forbidden to speak publicly on politics, it sounds as if Shahak is still clearing his throat.

But peace is not what Shahak is bringing to Israeli politics. The left-center Labor party is worried that the Rabin protégé will split the “peace camp” by siphoning off centrist Labor members. That could force Shahak, Benjamin Netanyahu or Labor leader Ehud Barak to stake out extreme positions in order to attract enough votes to form a majority -- just the sort of frenzied coalition-building that left Netanyahu beholden to hard-liners against the peace process. But nobody’s panicking yet. “Shahak has run very well in the polls, but it's entirely as an unknown entity,” reminds TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. “That will change a bit once reporters start asking him questions." Or at least when Shahak starts answering.