For several decades after 1967 Israel's main parties adopted incompatible positions on the greatest dilemma facing the Jewish state: whatto do with the lands captured in the six-day war. Labour said the West Bank could be traded for peace;rnLikud that it was the Jews' biblical homeland, given in sacred trust by God and never to be surrendered. That did not stop the two parties from sometimes sharing power. A disgruntled member of one national-unity government in 1984 called it "a two-headed monster". But when push comes to shove, beleaguered Israelis often sink their differences and stand together.
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