Irag, I'll Scratch Your Back...

Experts agree that an even more fundamental question is at stake: what role Islamic law should play in Afghanistan's future. Several parties argue that the draft is not Islamic enough and that laws should be strictly in line with the Qur'an. At the same time, pro-Western liberals blame Karzai for allowing concessions to Islamic law--granting control of the education system to fundamentalists, for instance--which may impinge on democratic rights.

Karzai is in a tough spot. With parts of the country slipping into the wrong hands, opium production back on the rise and a very evident lack of institutions, the prospect of an upcoming vote is a rare source of optimism for the Afghan people. Despite the odds being stacked against him, it's now up to Karzai to win over the Loya Jirga--and ensure the elections take place.

Zahid Hussain

Israel

Inspired by the Past, Fearful of the Future

Only a long-odds gambler would bet on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's dismantling Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip any time soon. But Sharon's deputy and key confidant believes that's just what the P.M. is gearing up to do. Ehud Olmert, a political hawk in his own right, told NEWSWEEK last Thursday that he believes Sharon will begin evacuating some isolated settlements unilaterally "in a matter of months" if no breakthrough is made in talks with the Palestinians. Olmert and a growing number of other right-wingers who once supported settlement expansion are now worried their dream of Greater Israel will turn the Jewish state into an apartheid-era South Africa. Palestinians make up 40 percent of the population of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and could constitute a majority within a decade. In a startling interview with a local paper last week, Olmert outlined his plan to pull out of much of the West Bank and evacuate a substantial number of settlements. Olmert denies the remarks were a trial balloon for Sharon's own program but insists he's in step with his boss. Palestinians believe any plan of Sharon's will leave them fenced off in a truncated state. Israeli doves, who have long warned that creeping demographics make occupation of the West Bank and Gaza untenable, doubt Sharon will take on the settlers. "Certainly there will be violence," Olmert said about any evacuation. "It will be a civil confrontation of the largest proportions in the history of the state of Israel." That, you can bet on.