WHEN TRUE BELIEVERS "WIN":

Israeli hawks and doves united? (Ilene R. Prusher, 7/14/04, CS Monitor)

The two opposing heavyweights in Israel's cantankerous political ring are moving closer to joining forces, a shift that could significantly alter Israel's approach in its bout with the Palestinians.

While the leaders of the right-wing Likud and left-wing Labor Party are hardly natural partners in politics - and have failed to work together well in the past - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Labor leader Shimon Peres appear to need each other in order to salvage plans to unilaterally disengage from Palestinian lives and lands.

The very fact that Labor and Likud leaders are taking the prospect of a unity government seriously suggests that the ideological differences that once distinguished them so sharply are no longer as significant as they used to be.

"The gap is not really that huge," says Avraham Diskin, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "The Labor Party used to argue that if Israel will pay a high enough price, there will be peace. That's over.

"Now I think everyone in Israel believes that peace is a very nice dream, but it's not realistic. And even the hawks in Likud say having a 'Greater Israel' is also a nice dream, but it's not realistic, either," he adds. "And so everyone believes Israel must make major concessions, maybe even allow a Palestinian state, but it won't necessarily bring peace."

People who would rather lose than compromise do.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2004 9:29 PM