It is easy to assume that some sort of political and media riot would have erupted had an Israeli president published a plan to annex 100 percent of the territories. Members of the media and political establishment would undoubtedly demand he be deposed. And if the plan mentioned the evacuation of Arab communities, the way President Shimon Peres' plan calls for the evacuation of Jewish communities, then they would demand he be tried for war crimes.

Is a president obliged to refrain from helping form diplomatic plans, such as those that would split the country? (See what happened in the Israel Defense Forces and Hebron over the evacuation of two shops.) Not when the president is Peres, and the plan is to establish a Palestinian state on 100 percent of the territories. In other words, the plan reflects the opinion of many decision makers regarding what is and is not legitimate conduct for a president.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is reportedly "examining" Peres' proposal "in a positive light." And no one is commenting that Olmert is behaving like former prime minister Ariel Sharon did when Edna Arbel - then state prosecutor and now a Supreme Court justice - and Moshe Mizrahi - then head of the Justice Ministry Police Investigations Department - were closing in on him in the Greek island affair.