IN AN extraordinary about face, Israel's hard line opposition Likud party is considering grudging acceptance of the peace accords with the Palestinians.
For more than two years, since the Israeli PLO peace process began in earnest, the main opposition Likud has denounced the autonomy process. It branded newly elected Palestinian President Yasser Arafat an unreformed terrorist and claimed he was acting in secret partnership with the Hamas Islamic radicals to cheat Israel into giving up territory, with an eye to eventually overrunning the entire Jewish state.
But now, with general elections looming and the party badly trailing the Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, and his Labour Party, senior Likud figures are urging a rethink. They argue that the party's only hope of regaining power lies in accepting the new facts on the ground and presenting itself as the ideal party to enter the next round of negotiations with the Palestinians. The key outstanding issues are the future of West Bank settlements, the drawing up of final borders and the status of East Jerusalem.
The Likud Party leader, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, made a largely unnoticed step in this direction earlier this week, when he said that a Likud government would not "send the army to reoccupy cities handed over to the PLO" in the West Bank in recent months.
But others in the Likud are calling for far more dramatic policy shifts. Mr Ronnie Milo, the mayor of Tel Aviv, says Likud must now embrace Mr Aralat as a peace partner. Pointing to changed circumstances in the wake of the Palestinian elections, he said in a radio interview on Monday.
The representatives were chosen, Arafat at their head. And they are our partners.
This kind of talk from main stream Likud figures would have been unthinkable just a few months ago, before the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Likud leaders regularly denounced the peace process and denied what they called the haste and naivety of the Rabin government.
Mr Netanyahu now argues that only Likud can prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state in the territories, Labour capitulations in East Jerusalem and a huge influx of Palestinian refugees. If the PLO honours its commitment to excise from its charted the clauses calling for Israel's destruction, it seems likely that he will oversee the Likud's drafting of a new policy on the peace process despite furious opposition from the former Likud prime minister, Mr Yitzhak Shamir, and Mr Benny Begin, son of the late premier, Menachem Begin, who both insist the party must stick to its traditional positions.
The current Likud in fighting must be music to the ears not only of Mr Peres, but also the far right Knesset party, Moledet, which stands to pick up the votes of disenchanted hardliners should Likud seek to realign itself closer to the centre of Israeli politics.
Israel launched two air raids in south Lebanon yesterday, its first such air strikes this year, security sources said. Two planes fired some six rockets into Mlita hill in Iqlim al Toufah mountain ridge, a stronghold for guerrillas of the pro Iranian Hizbullah.
More than an hour later, jets raided the Jabal Safi hills. Lebanese troops stationed in the area fired anti aircraft weapons at the jets, which dropped heat balloons to avert any guerrilla rockets.
The Israeli army said all planes returned safely to base.