A number of disturbing observations can be made from the coming Israeli elections.

First: The Israeli society is going through a period of political and psychological upheaval and is divided over several issues, including the conflict between religious and secular ideals, peace with the Palestinians and the Arab countries and the extent to which American policies and strategic interests in the region are to be accommodated. Moreover, Mitzna’s refusal to join the Likud in a national unity government only served to exacerbate these divisions further.

Second: The Israeli society is particularly sensitive to domestic issues, especially security and economic issues, as well as corruption – which has taken up more importance than peace with the Palestinians. It is clear that the Israelis have not yet reached the needed maturity to achieve peace with the Palestinians and build balanced relations with the Arabs. All peace efforts have failed to bring the Israeli society down from its racist isolation, as most Israelis remain prisoners of confused biblical interpretations. Moreover, the Labor Party’s failure to achieve peace raised doubts among a vast majority of Sephardic and Hassidic Jews, both secular and religious, about the possibility of ever reaching that goal. The winds of war against Iraq as well as those of the intifada, especially the suicide operations, only added to the fears that had been implanted in Israelis by the Zionist movement.

Third: Despite the great danger that a victory of the right wing would represent, the Palestinians have been unable to influence the elections. The Palestinian Authority has failed to deliver a message of peace to the Israeli society. Still, the Palestinian opposition made an effort to underline the weakness of the Authority and of Yasser Arafat in particular, and did its best to weaken the impact of statements denying the accusation of terror as a means to achieve its goals. Instead, they proceeded to make their fiery statements and to carry out suicide operations. By doing so, they only reinforced Sharon’s position.

The Arab governments too carry their share of the blame; they failed to deliver a message of peace to the Israelis too. They were unable to reassure the Israeli public that the peace offer made by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and endorsed at the Beirut summit was still on the table. Moreover, the Israeli-Arabs failed to present a united list of candidates, thus reducing their representation in the coming Knesset.

As a result, the victory of Sharon and Likud is now an almost certain fact, and the post-elections period will be bleaker than ever before. During his second term in office, Sharon will have no hesitations to carry out the racist convictions he did not dare implement during his first term.