The final Israeli election tallies for the moderate Kadima party clear the way to a center-left governing coalition. Turnout was apparently low, and nobody did as well as expected (except Labor, which probably did better than expected.)
Kadima (centrists) - 28 Knesset seats
Labor (left) - 20 seats
Shas (Sephardic ultra-Orthadox) - 13
Yisrael Beiteinu (Russian-dominated ultra-conservative party that advocates religious/ethnic cleansing of Arabs via mass deportation -- ) - 12
Likud - 11 seates (down from 38 with Ariel Sharon in 2003)
Arab parties - 10 seats
Totals: Center-left parties: 62-66 seats, in an election with record-low turnout...
Does that mean the Israelis are growing tired of the belligerent Old Sharon policies and that they're warming toward the more accomodative latter-day Sharon gambit? We'll see. What seems clear is that this was a victory for Olmert's push to get on with the final settlement with the Palestinians, and, as the Guardian's Johnathan Freedland writes today, to return a 'stolen inheritance.'
Paul at Powerline remarks on the stark difference between the Palestinians, who clearly knew what they wanted, and the Israelis, who hedged.
The Brothers Judd has more links to Likud agonistes...
I, for one, am very happy to see the Likudniks smacked down. Maybe with them on the sidelines, our own Likudniks (the neocons) will back off, too. And maybe, just maybe, the Palestinian Diaspora will take a step toward finally getting a state of their own, as promised by the feckless British Empire, such as it was, after World War II.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
