Israel and Palestine: Ready for Another Showdown?

Reports and images coming out of Gaza reflect flat out civil war brewing in Palestine between Hamas and Fatah while Israel voters prepare to come down hard on the Labour Party in Tel Aviv. This does not bode well for the peace process (aka the anhiliation process) as Benjamin Netahyahu's popularity has grown significantly mostly do to the inept Olmert administration. Mix this with the current ineptitued in Washington, London, the E.U. and the U.N. and there is a formula for disaster brewing on the horizon. Connect the dots....

Labour party votes for new leader able to tackle Netanyahu Israel and the MiddleEast: "Votes were cast yesterday to select a new leader for Israel's Labour party, in a run-off between the former prime minister Ehud Barak and the former security services chief Ami Ayalon. Opinion polls put both men in close competition, with Mr Barak edging slightly ahead. Results were due to be announced overnight.

Yesterday's vote, in which around 104,000 members were eligible to cast a ballot, was a second round run-off. Two weeks ago the party's current leader and the defence minister were defeated. Labour is the second largest party in the ruling coalition and both challengers have been critical of the prime minister, Ehud Olmert, leader of the Kadima party. However, most analysts agree that neither Mr Barak nor Mr Ayalon would pull Labour out of the coalition if they won, although both have hinted they might work to replace Mr Olmert with someone else from his party.
Mr Barak and Mr Ayalon will hope to take up the defence ministry if they win, but that may not be automatic. Reports have suggested Mr Olmert is reluctant to give the post to Mr Ayalon if he wins, and would rather make him finance minister. In the election campaign, Mr Barak has positioned himself among Labour supporters as the only politician in the party strong enough to beat Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition Likud party, who currently leads in opinion polls. He frequently emphasises his experience in politics: he was prime minister between 1999 and 2001 and, a highly-decorated army officer, he was head of the armed forces." -- More [Hat tip: The Guardian]