Many in Israel wonder if the most radical right-wing government will be the one to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a question also discussed in Ramallah, Paris and Washington.
This brings to mind the famous reflection by the Prophet Jeremiah, who lived 2,700 years ago: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" (Jeremiah, 13:23). Sadly, prospects that the current government will evacuate a quarter million Jewish settlers from the West Bank (the rest will be allowed to remain in their homes as part of a land swap with the Palestinians) and renounce its sovereignty over Jerusalem's Temple Mount is akin to the prospects of the leader of the left-wing Meretz Party, Zehava Gal-On, moving to live in a West Bank outpost.