Rehavam Zeevi

Besieged by protesters and nearly drowned out by their own shouting, Israel's lawmakers opened a historic debate Tuesday on whether to approve their government's peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organization. The vote on the accord, expected to come after three days of marathon wrangling, is so crucial that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin staked his government's survival on it, saying it would amount to a vote of confidence.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has been chided for years for a stolid, inactive approach to Israel's pressing problems--not just finding a solution to the Palestinian problem, but also resolving the country's economic woes and preparing for the influx of Soviet immigrants. In the Persian Gulf crisis, however, Shamir's relentless immobility is viewed as a plus. After Iraq launched volleys of Scud missiles at Israeli cities, the Bush Administration asked Israel to refrain from hitting back.

The government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Sunday reaffirmed its decision to boycott the Dec. 4 starting date for the Washington round of Middle East peace talks after a refusal by the United States to guarantee conditions on the future course of negotiations, senior officials said. Shamir's Cabinet had been expected to reconsider a decision taken last week to delay Israel's participation until Dec. 9.

In precisely the kind of violence that could derail the region's newly revived peace process, a Jewish settler was shot to death Monday in the West Bank, and an elderly Palestinian man was later killed in an apparent revenge attack. The slayings came as irate Israeli lawmakers took the first step toward early elections aimed at replacing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who weathered another round of noisy street protests and survived a long-shot no-confidence vote in parliament.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's government staggered toward collapse Wednesday as a minor, far-right party voted to withdraw in protest of Israel's participation in peace talks. Shamir's ruling majority, reduced to one vote, could disappear if, as expected, another fractional party decides to pull out. The prime minister's deteriorating position throws into question Israel's continued participation in the Middle East peace talks, which entered a third round this week in Washington.

Three Israeli soldiers were ambushed and shot dead Thursday night while patrolling a country road in the hills south of the embattled West Bank city of Hebron. Militants have now killed 22 Israelis in and around the biblical city in the last two months. The soldiers were sent on foot to guard the road near the Israeli settlement of Beit Haggai, where passing traffic has periodically come under fire.

A Palestinian youth, a butcher knife in each hand, fatally stabbed two Israelis and wounded nine others Monday in a rampage through crowded Tel Aviv streets before he was caught by passersby and beaten to the ground. Ziyad Salim Hussein Silmi, 19, an unemployed car painter from Gaza City, reportedly told police that he had been unable to find work for more than four months and in his frustration decided to kill Israelis.

Israeli officials cautioned Thursday that a final agreement on Palestinian self-rule is at least a month away, as Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat flew to Jordan to begin bringing other Arabs aboard the evolving peace process.

Her brow furrowed in concentration, Hinan Rimawi picked carefully through the rubble of what used to be her cousin's home Thursday, searching for anything that had withstood a raid by Israeli troops the night before. Triumphantly, the 9-year-old pulled a floppy-eared stuffed rabbit from the ruins, dusty and battered but intact. Next came a handful of felt-tipped pens. Earlier, she said, she had found some of her cousin's clothes.

Israel's recent campaign of quick, devastating and sometimes fatal "temporary" reoccupation of territory under Palestinian jurisdiction should be understood as part of a well-planned scheme that is not about defending nearby illegal Israeli settlers, who are heavily armed and well-protected by the Israeli army.