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Israel's election focuses on politics of fear

With right-wing politicians calling Arab Israelis a fifth column, and a Joint List candidate comparing Zionism to the Islamic State, it seems that the common denominator in the Israeli elections is hatred of the other.
Fliers depicting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seen on the ground during a right-wing rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square March 15, 2015. Israel's centre-left opposition is poised for an upset victory in the upcoming parliamentary election, with the last opinion polls before Tuesday's vote giving it a solid lead over Netanyahu's party. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR4TGF7
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Members of the Israeli and Palestinian “peace camp” need not bother holding their breath until every vote is counted. Even if the Zionist Camp comes out ahead, and even if Likud alumni Moshe Kahlon joins a coalition alongside Zehava Gal-On of the Meretz Party, a photo of Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signing an agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is far from becoming reality. It is as realistic as a photo of Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman cavorting with Palestinian Arab Knesset member Haneen Zoabi.

Past experience has shown that such a government of disparate parts, or a unity government between the Likud and the Zionist Camp, has about as much chance of dismantling the Jewish settlement in Hebron, evacuating 120,000 settlers and giving up the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, as Abbas has of declaring to the Palestinian parliament that Israel has always been the state of the Jewish people and only the Jewish people. As I wrote here last month, such governments are a surefire recipe for diplomatic paralysis.

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