JERUSALEM -- With the Sea of Galilee, one of Israels main freshwater resources, at its lowest level in four years, it is no secret that Israel is reeling from an ongoing drought and is not expecting relief anytime soon.

JERUSALEM -- The coming festival of Shavuot celebrates both the harvest of the first fruits and the receiving of the Torah on Sinai. The generally accepted site of Mount Sinai is Jebel Musa (Mount Moses) in the Sinai Peninsula, but there are other candidates. One theory places the mountain in Saudi Arabia, another in Yemen, and there is even a possible site in the Negev. But there can be no doubt that the biblical narrative places the encounter between God and Moses in a desert location.

Within the rubric of national sovereignty come many challenges; the use of power is paramount to how a nation defines itself.

Controversial ex-U.S. President Jimmy Carter has weighed into the Middle East foray again by publicly stating that Israel has 150 nuclear weapons, the first time a U.S. president has openly acknowledged one of the worst kept secrets in the region.

How far away the smiling photo-opportunities of the Annapolis peace conference now seem. Less than half a year after a bouncy Condoleezza Rice played princess of peace with all the exuberant enthusiasm of her college cheerleader days, the U.S. secretary of state has just returned home after being humiliated by an Israeli prime minister as no visiting American statesman ever has been before.

Rescuing the Two-state Solution

In her article "The right and the return" (Haaretz, Oct. 3), Ruth Gavison discusses what is again becoming the watershed in the interrupted dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel. At issue are historical rights, and in this case Israels unwillingness to recognize the Palestinians right of return. As in all the previous rounds, this watershed will end the diplomatic discussions aimed at an agreement. Gavison proposes an alternative definition for "the right of return:" "the desire to return," which she says Israel would recognize. On the other hand, she says that remaining in the framework of the "right of return" is a recipe for disaster.

A respected American paper posted a scoop just recently: Vice-President Dick Cheney, the King of Hawks, has thought up a Machiavellian scheme for an attack on Iran. Its main point: Israel will start by bombing an Iranian nuclear installation, Iran

Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo. The German Wehrmacht won World War II.