Politics Are Never Simple

The current coalition, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, had requested the Israeli Supreme Court to review the court's decision requiring the demolition of illegally built houses in the West Bank settlement of Beit El.

The coalition had such hopes pinned on the Chief Justice of the court. However he and other justices ruled that their decision was final. The neighborhood in question is comprised of five multi-family buildings on the edge of Beit El, and it has turned into Mr. Netanyahu's hill of horrors. Sending bulldozers there and forcibly evacuating some 200 men, women, and children in the midst of an election campaign would be the equivalent, in electoral terms, of the series of terrorist bombings in early 1996 that ended up toppling the government of Shimon Peres. The sight of demolished buildings and evacuated settlers only weks before the election may drive may drive masses of Likud voters, members of the party that Mr Netanyahu leads into the hands of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party.

Never a dull moment on the local political scene. Stay tuned.

Frank