While many eyes worldwide have been fixed on the Israeli-Palestinian peace summit at Camp David these past few days, the attention of most Israelis, ironically, has been centred on events at home - and specifically the very different fate of two prominent politicians guilty of financial misdealings.
The fortunate politician, Mr Ezer Weizman, former air force general, cabinet minister and early advocate of peace talks with the Palestinians, stepped down yesterday after seven years as Israel's state president. He left the presidential residence in Jerusalem several years ahead of schedule, forced out amid revelations of failure to disclose income in years past, but did so in glorious sunshine, to cheers from a group of schoolchildren, escorted by the mayor of Jerusalem, Mr Ehud Olmert, heading into a comfortable retirement as a beloved national figure.
The unfortunate politician, Mr Arye Deri, former minister of the interior, leader of the Shas party and one-time outside bet as Israel's first ultra-Orthodox prime minister, lost his Supreme Court appeal on Wednesday against a conviction for bribe-taking and other offences, and will begin serving a three-year jail term next month.
When the presiding judge in the Deri appeal began reading his verdict on Wednesday morning, the ambiguous phrasing of the first sentence led some Deri supporters to conclude, erroneously, that their man was about to be cleared. A great cry of relief erupted among Shas activists in and outside the building. "Israel does have some honest judges after all," said one man.
But when the crowds had been hushed and the judge continued, and it became clear that Mr Deri was going to jail after all, the mood turned ugly. "If his name had been Weizman," railed a Shas Knesset member, Mr Arye Gamliel, "he would have been cleared." Later in the day, the Shas spiritual mentor, the elderly Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, denounced the Supreme Court judges as "sinners".
Fuming over the comparison being drawn between him and Mr Deri, the departing president Weizman observed yesterday: "I was never charged with anything, never convicted." But that, for Mr Deri's supporters, is precisely the point: "This is clear discrimination," his successor as Shas leader, Mr Eli Yishai, claimed.
Other Shas activists, amplifying the point, asserted that Mr Deri was being jailed, while Mr Weizman was never even tried, because the ruling Israel establishment is "an Ashkenazi and secular elite" that deliberately thwarts ambitious Sephardi Jews who seek a share of power.
The term "Ashkenazi" refers to Jews of European origin, like Mr Weizman, his probable successor, Mr Shimon Peres, and the Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak. "Sephardi" refers to those Jews, like the Shas leaders and their supporters, who are of Middle Eastern and oriental origin.
Incidentally, few objective legal analysts have quibbled with the verdict and sentence in the Deri case, but some have questioned the attorney-general's decision not to prosecute Mr Weizman.
All of this may appear to have little relevance to the concurrent critical peace talks at Camp David. But it may prove to be highly germane. Reports from the talks suggest that Mr Barak is offering greater compromises on Palestinian claims to Jerusalem, and greater concessions on dismantling Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, than any of his predecessors. If a peace deal emerges, he may have even more difficulty than envisaged persuading a majority of his country folk to support it.
Reuters reports:
The Middle East peace negotiators toiled for a third day on the toughest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yesterday after President Clinton left the Camp David summit for the day to fulfil speaking engagements.
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, directed the talks involving Mr Barak, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and their delegations.
The US said the two sides had begun to negotiate in earnest about the most intractable issues.