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For Shiites, the elections are a way to inherit by peaceful means power that was long monopolized by Sunni Arabs, who make up about a fifth of the country's population. For some Shiites, the elections will undo mistakes made when Iraq was founded. In 1920, the Shiite clergy led a revolt against the British occupation after World War I. Once it was put down, the clergy kept up their opposition, rejecting Shiite participation in elections that followed and discouraging a role in the government and its institutions, which were soon dominated by Sunnis.

history remains resonant

narrative

Moqtada Sadr's Shiite movement prides itself on its nationalist message and its outreach to Sunnis. From the very first days after Saddam Hussein's fall, Sunni and Shiite clerics stressed the slogan, "No Sunni, no Shiite, only Islam." In opinion poll after opinion poll, when asked to list their affiliation, more people will simply list "Muslim," rather than "Sunni" or "Shiite."

Given the sermons' reach -- for many religious Iraqis, they are the window through which news and events are received and interpreted -- they amount to more than words uttered to the converted over a loudspeaker. They convey a sense of popular sentiments, of everyday conversations.

the Sunni community is fashioned as the bulwark against U.S. and Israeli designs on the country. Shiite Iranians posing as Iraqis are flooding the country, the preachers say, and the Kurds are serving as stooges of the U.S. presence. The Sunnis are the nation's defenders against an occupation, and they are being called upon to act.

Bush, it seems, gave democracy a bad name.

Arabs are still willing to be convinced about Obama's motives. The flurry of diplomatic activity and indications that the administration is willing to talk directly with Tehran and even with the Taliban are being praised on the region's editorial pages. Arabs welcome the fact that the myopia of the past eight years has been jettisoned in favor of a nuanced approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of the many complex policy challenges of the Middle East.

Obama has the symbolism of outreach to the world's Muslims down pat, but gestures are cheap in a region where lives are readily sacrificed in symbolic acts of martyrdom. Now he must follow up with real, concrete engagement.

“Mr. Khatami would not be an appropriate president and there might be riots again if he gets elected,” he warned, referring to the pro-democracy demonstrations during Mr. Khatami’s presidency.

His Yisrael Beitenu Party now appears to be vying with Barak's Labor to be Israel's third largest party.

one of the campaign's most colorful TV ads, courtesy of the dovish Meretz Party: "If you liked Mussolini, if you were missing Stalin, you'll love Lieberman."

he would allow existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank to expand.

if the Obama administration lends its support to an idea gaining currency in international circles of trying to pull the Islamic militants of Hamas out of Iran's orbit by offering incentives.

Netanyahu seems the most likely to carry out a military strike on Iran, which Israel sees as its top threat.

Israeli hawks have carried out their nation's most important territorial concessions, most notably Menachem Begin's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 and Ariel Sharon's 2005 evacuation of Gaza.

With Arabs soon to outnumber Jews in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will have a hard time remaining a Jewish state if it holds on to all the land it now controls.