For now, Israel's penalty for failing to reach a deal with the Palestinians is not great, according to Bar-Tal, the Tel Aviv University professor. Israel has used walls and fences to cordon off Gaza and much of the West Bank, greatly reducing interaction between Israelis and Palestinians. Bus and cafe bombings are now years in the past.
Yet in the long term, Israel's demographic dilemma -- that one day there will be a clear majority of Palestinians living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea -- is real. Livni and others advocate dealing with the problem before Israel confronts a choice between its democratic and its Jewish natures. Netanyahu and his backers counter that giving up the West Bank would put huge swaths of Israel, including Ben-Gurion Airport, within rocket range.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03301.html
Avigdor Lieberman, the only candidate in the race who has generated real excitement. He has climbed to third place in the polls with a proposal to compel all Israelis to pledge their loyalty to the Jewish state. The measure is seen as an insinuation that Israel's Arab community, which represents 20 percent of the population, isn't loyal.
Among segments of Israel's Jewish population, Israeli Arabs are suspected of being sympathetic to Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups. The issue arose during Israel's 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza, when Israeli Arabs held boisterous rallies condemning the war effort. Now Lieberman holds rallies condemning any citizen who doesn't adequately support the state. Crowds enthusiastically shout in reply, "Without loyalty, no citizenship."
And yet, it is not clear how the loyalty test would help Israel with its more fundamental challenges: a vulnerable economy, Hamas's hold on Gaza, Hezbollah's presence on Israel's northern border, the menace sometimes expressed by Iran's leaders. Lieberman's intent, analysts say, is to tackle an issue that seems easy enough to fix, while distracting Israelis from more intractable problems.
ibid
I got the
Baruch Apocalyptic blues again.
'Blessed is he who was not born,
Or he, who having been born, has died.
7 But as for us who live, woe unto us,
Because we see the afflictions of Zion,
And what has befallen Jerusalem.
8 I will call the Sirens from the sea,
And you Lilin, come you from the desert,
And you Shedim and dragons from the forests:
Awake and gird up your loins unto mourning,
And take up with me the dirges,
And make lamentation with me.
9 Ye husbandmen, sow not again;
And, O earth, wherefore give you your harvest fruits?
Keep within you the sweets of your sustenance.
10 And thou, vine, why further do you give your wine;
For an offering will not again be made from there in Zion,
Nor will first-fruits again be offered.
11 And do ye, O heavens, 'withhold your dew,
And open not the treasuries of rain:
12 And do thou, O sun withhold the light of your rays.
And do thou, O moon, extinguish the multitude of your light;
For why should light rise again
Where the light of Zion is darkened?
13 And you, you bridegrooms, enter not in,
And let not the brides adorn themselves with garlands;
And, you women, pray not that you may bear.
14 For the barren shall above all rejoice,
And those who have no sons shall be glad,
And those who have sons shall have anguish.
15 For why should they bear in pain,
Only to bury in grief?
16 Or why, again, should mankind have sons?
Or why should the seed of their kind again be named,
