None of the political parties explicitly backs unilateral withdrawal, although the campaign was initiated by Labor's No. 2 candidate, Yossi Beilin. The bigger question, though, is reaching an understanding with Syria, whose army has effective control in Lebanon. Syria maintains that the starting point for any talks is the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967. That's a non-starter for Netanyahu, although his Labor opponents favor "territorial compromise" with Syria. For now, however, Israel's electoral contest continues, and residents of its northern towns spend the day in bomb shelters.
Israel Is Torn by Losses in Lebanon
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Getting out of Lebanon is proving a lot harder for Israel than getting in did 17 years ago. New air raids on Hezbollah targets Monday in response to a weekend attack in Lebanon that killed four Israeli soldiers -- including a general -- can't hide the fact that the low-intensity war is sapping Israel's morale. "The grieving father of one of three soldiers who were killed a week ago immediately went on TV and said 'We've got to get out of Lebanon now,' " says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer. "There's a growing movement for Israel to withdraw unilaterally."