Israeli voters were still casting their ballots, but the Washington Post already provided its readers with a doom-and-gloom forecast of Prime Minister Netanyahu having to govern with a shrunken Likud-Beitenu partnership that will be more dependent on religious and hawkish parties, and thus courting further international isolation ("Netanyahu's joint ticket may have a fractious result -- Israeli premier melded parties, but a loss of seats is predicted" by Joel Greenberg, page A5, Jan. 22) For Netanyahu, Greenberg writes with undisguised relish, "not all has gone as expected, and he may end up with a more fractious and hawkish coalition than the one he has led, leaving him less room to maneuver." To make matters even worse, Greenberg adds, Netanyahu's own Likud party is moving away from a two-state solution and he also has to contend with the rising prominence of the new Jewish Home party that advocates a single-state solution with an Israeli takeover of 60 percent of the West Bank,...(Read Full Post)