Land Of Israel

THE ZIONIST revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is a real chance that ours will be the last Zionist generation. There may yet be a Jewish state here, but it will be a different sort, strange and ugly. There is time to change course, but not much.

JERUSALEM -- Until the Jewish settlers arrived yesterday, the small stone building perched on a steep hill in the village of Silwan was merely a house.When settlers and several members of Israel's Parliament moved inside before dawn, vowing not to leave, the house became one of the devices that the extreme right uses to make clear they will insist on expanding settlements even at the cost of regional peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III is coming here next week to help prepare for these talks.

The son of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the assassinated radical Zionist leader, is campaigning in this country against an Israeli government that he says is prevented by "madness and blindness" from taking the extreme measures necessary to root out Arab terrorism."

JERUSALEM -- A group of Labor and Likud legislators who have been working to find common ground for future negotiations with the Palestinians have joined in proposing that the Palestinians be eventually granted a self-ruled "entity" and that no Jewish settlers be forcibly uprooted from the West Bank or Gaza Strip.While the proposals have not been officially approved by either party and are not likely to be, the plan was the first to be prepared jointly by members of the two major parties.

AS THE sun sets on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political landscape begins to resemble the final battle scene in "Richard III" -- the field lost, all the king's followers and nobles defecting and the king, badly wounded and ailing, desperate for a means of holding together his divided kingdom.The sight last week of Mr. Netanyahu being jeered by both left and right as he called for new elections made clear the extent of the devastation. With his own ministers turning against him, an unprecedented assault from his own ideological breeding ground on the right and ringing indignation on the left, he straddles the chasm between left and right, with no sure foothold on either side.

EZ EPHRAIM, West Bank - One day after Israel delivered a tough 48-hour ultimatum to the Palestinians, the West Bank and Gaza saw a marked reduction in violent clashes yesterday amid hopes that the outbreak of violence between Palestinians and Israelis may have peaked. U.S. officials, fearful that the conflict could re-intensify and swiftly spread, worked frantically to persuade the two sides to resume contacts and persuaded Israeli and Palestinian security officials to agree to coordinate their actions more closely.

Mount Pisgah AME Church can be proud of how far it has grown beyond its modest beginnings of 100 years ago in a log cabin near Howard High School. Yet it was not the church but Jesus who was the focus Sunday as the congregation raised its voice in praise and worship at a Christmas sing-along service. At its spacious new building in east Columbia, purchased in 1996 from Covenant Baptist Church, six choirs performed Christmas carols and songs to the accompaniment of piano, guitar and drums.

JERUSALEM - Israel's parliament approved a plan last night to evacuate all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and several in the West Bank, the first time Israeli lawmakers have voted to relinquish land that Palestinians want for an independent state. The vote, 67-45 in favor of the withdrawal proposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, came after 17 hours of often-harsh debate as thousands of protesters, pro and con, rallied outside the parliament building, ringed by heavily armed police.

TEL AVIV - Israel's disengagement from Gaza, officially set to begin Aug. 17, has begun. And Israelis, never the most patient of people, are moving on to the next controversy: What will be given up next, what will be the Palestinians' reactions and will the country survive the internal struggle? Pressure from the outside is partly to blame. The United States is pushing for the dismantling of unauthorized outposts throughout the West Bank immediately after the Gaza disengagement. But the larger problem is Israel's unwillingness to deal with the disengagement's real implications.

With the Israeli government preparing to evacuate Jewish settlers from Gaza next week, Ellen Kushner has been visiting the Western Wall. The Baltimore woman goes online to a live camera trained on the holy site in Jerusalem, where Jews have read psalms over the controversial policy of disengagement. One day this week, she joined in herself. "I think it will be a disaster for Israel," said Kushner, a member of the Orthodox B'nai Jacob Shaarei Zion synagogue who raised her children in the Jewish state.