When the security cabinet meets Sunday to finish its discussion on how to grapple with the Kassams from Gaza, one hopes that beyond dealing with the very acute problem of how to reduce the rocket attacks on Sderot, it will also take up the issue of how Israel will react if the Palestinian Authority collapses.
For the spiraling anarchy inside Gaza is not something Israel can watch from outside. A collapse of the PA as a government, something that the events of the last few days have shown is a real possibility, would have far-reaching strategic ramifications for Israel and could fundamentally change the two-state concept that has underpinned Israeli policy since 1993 and the Oslo Accords.
Since that time, successive governments have adhered to a strategic approach based on the idea that if Israel wished to remain a Jewish and democratic state, it was not in its long-term strategic interest to continue to control the 1.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, or the 2.5m. Palestinians in the West Bank.
But at the same time, said Gidi Grinstein, head of the Tel Aviv-based Reut think tank, certain factions inside Palestinian society were not interested in the two-state solution. They were, he ...   more »

Dispute over issue of Jews visiting Temple Mount escalates, as prominent Zionist Rabbi Avraham Shapira condemns Zionist rabbis' entry to holy site. Haredi paper accuses rabbis of defiling Mount because they worship 'Zionist Calf'
The dispute between haredi and Zionist rabbis over the issue of Jews' visitations to the Temple Mount has escalated recently, following a visit by a group of about 40 Zionist rabbis to the holy site this week.
 Visit  
Rabbis visiting Temple Mount 'hope for an awakening' / Neta Sela  
Thirty Zionist rabbis break taboo and visit Temple Mount as part of 40th anniversary celebrations of Jerusalem's unification    
Prominent rabbi Avraham Shapira spoke out Tuesday against Jews visiting the Temple Mount.  
Shapira, the head of the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem, stressed during a ceremony marking Jerusalem Day that the Halacha forbids Jews from entering the place. 
'Temple Mount desecrated'
Meanwhile, the haredi newspaper affiliated with the Lithuanian stream, Yated Ne'eman harshly criticized the rabbis' visit, "which goes against the Halacha," saying that the rabbis had violated a prohibition punishable with karet, death by heavenly decree.  
In two separate articles, the newspaper attacks the visit, accusing the Zionist rabbis of worshipping "the ...   more »

By Israel Harel  
A decade ago, at the start of the events marking the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem, the city's mayor warned: "We are approaching the time of the decisive battle for the very heart of Jerusalem." And how did the mayor at the time, who went on to become acting prime minister and is now the prime minister, carry out that "decisive battle"?
At Sunday's special cabinet meting dedicated to the unification of Jerusalem, Mayor Uri Lupolianski summed up the results: "East Jerusalem is liable, God forbid, not to be under Jewish sovereignty ... Hamas will conquer Jerusalem within 12 years." In remarks reminiscent of the conclusions of a committee of inquiry into another decisive battle, Lupolianski said: "In order not to lose the city to Hamas ... a long-term strategic plan, not ad hoc solutions, is needed."
Lupolianski based his prediction on a study by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, the main points of which are: In the past 40 years, the city's Arab population has increased by 257 percent, compared with only 140 percent for Jews. Of the city's population of about 700,000, 34 percent is Arab. In 12 years this will ...   more »