Likud swallows pride

In this place that seems burdened by the past, it is the future that is bearing down. Within the dominant Right-wing Likud party, leaders who advocated holding all of West Bank and Gaza Strip, and who for three years argued that Israel would make no concessions as it lacked a Palestinian peace partner, are now debating how to concede part of that territory.

The Likud is grappling with a prospect raised by Israel8217;s Left: that in a few years Arabs will be the majority in Israel and its occupied territories, and they may switch from demanding their own state to demanding the right to vote within Israel, threatening its Jewish identity.

The result is a breathtaking inversion: Though the Likud8217;s platform opposes a Palestinian state as a threat to Israel, some members say that only the creation of such a state can save Israel as a Jewish democracy.

The debate within Likud is the most surprising development in a fall that has brought a two-month lull in the violence here and, with it, a series of official and unofficial initiatives for peace.

An Israeli official said, Sharon is seeking to adjust the Likud to a political realignment in Israel. 8216;8216;The dream of Greater Israel is no longer there. We have to adjust our sights.8217;8217;