"But the sad thing," says an Information Ministry official, is that these issues have to take a back seat to our most pressing problem; defense."

A recent public opinion poll indicated that 50 per cent of the Israelis interviewed believe there will be another war with the Arabs this year. The possibility of war and what to do about it has generated fierce debate in the Knesset. The variety of opinion is great, but two fundamental positions can be discerned: that of Rabin's Labor Alignment, and that of Likud.

"Rabin has learned from the 1973 war," says the ministry official. "He is a pragmatic man. He knows Israel must make concessions."

Rabin does not follow former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan's post-1967 belief that Israeli military superiority alone will win peace with the Arabs. Nor does he agree with former Prime Minister Golda Meir that "there are no Palestinians."

"Rabin recognizes that the Palestinian problem is real and must be dealt with," says the ministry official. "He admits to the feasibility of a Palestinian state in federation with Jordan."

Rabin has made it clear that he is willing to make withdrawals in the Sinai in return for Egyptian political concessions in the nature of a non-belligerency pact or a demilitarization of the territory. Withdrawal in the Golan Heights presents a more difficult problem because of the great tactical advantage the Golan Heights would give to the Syrian army, traditionally the most virulently anti-Israeli of the bordering Arab states.

A West Bank solution will also be more difficult than a Sinai accord for political as well as strategic reasons. In order to entice Mafdal to join the government coalition. Rabin promised that "the people would be consulted" before any territorial concessions were made in the religiously important West Bank. Public opinion is sharply divided on the issue.

Likud takes a much harder line on negotiations with the Arabs. It demands a peace treaty in return for Israeli withdrawals, and believes the Rabin policy of piecemeal withdrawals in return for minor political concessions will only give the Arabs a greater military advantage in the event of another war. Likud is also more strongly against withdrawl in the West Bank or Golan Heights than is the Labor Alignment.

These positions are only official political platforms, however, and most Israeli politicians prefer to speak for themselves. In interviews last month, six members of the Knesset from five different parties spoke about the issue of war and peace and presented a collage of views on Israel's future.

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Aviad Yafeh is an optimist. As party whip for Mapai, the foundation of the Rabin government, it is his duty to urge agreement on party issues. In the argumentative Knesset, this task requires an infinite reservoir of hope.

"I think Israel is stronger, more stable than last year," he says. "Some people are depressed because of the setback in 1973, but we still won the war. Of course, right now I see less chance of a complete cessation of hostilities in the very near future than I had hoped. Before 1973, we had been kidding ourselves about the immediate chances for peace.

"But before we can have peace," he continues, "the Arabs must change their attitudes about Israel. We want them to demilitarize the Sinai in return for our withdrawal. But even more important would be the deletion from Egyptian schoolbooks of those passages that call for the destruction of Israel. They should take out the parts in math books that ask. 'If you murdered three Israelis this morning, and murdered four Israelis in the afternoon, how many Israelis did you kill today?'

"I also don't think that the Arab states really believe the Palestinian problem is the crux of the Middle East crisis," Yafeh says. "They've never cared about the Palestinians. The whole refugee problem was caused by Arab aggression in 1947, and the Arab states have subsequently used the refugee camps as political weapons. It's sad, but as a result of that, people suffer.

"The Palestinians on the West Bank understand the problem." Yafeh continues. "Several years ago, when West Bank Palestinian leaders met with Prime Minister Eshkol, they said. 'Do you think Nasser or Hussein care about us? They care only about their careers. If there is another war, whoever wins, we will be the losers. Our two nations--Palestinians and Israelis--must coexist,' they continued. 'We have a lot of claims, but our two nations have to solve the problems ourselves.'"