"Yet Olmert, Livni and Barak are united in hopes of keeping Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition Likud Party who has vowed to bring talks with the Palestinian to a halt, from coming to power; the first post-assault polls show their chances of doing that substantially improving."

Interesting little tidbit about Israel's internal political struggles. Netanyahu holds the same beliefs that have enabled Israel to survive for the last 60 years: fight back. However, but to block his election, his opponents have teamed-up and taken the same hardline policy that Netanyhayu has been advocating.