JERUSALEM (The Guardian) -- Israel's ruling parties are facing eclipse in an upcoming general election as the Gaza campaign fails to convince a skeptical public while playing into the hands of opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

With Israel's 10 February election just over a week away, opinion polls and analysts say that the two principal government parties, Kadima and Labour, have extracted little benefit from the three-week Gaza war.
A poll conducted for Haaretz newspaper at the weekend predicted that Likud and its allies would win 65 seats in the elections, giving it a 12-seat advantage over the centre-left parties, which are expected to capture just 53 of the 120 parliamentary seats up for grabs.
“Forty-one percent said that the war was a success and 41% said it wasn't,” said Tel Aviv University professor Camil Fuchs, who conducts a poll for Haaretz newspaper and Channel 10.
The war has served to boost the importance of Netanyahu's key campaign issue -- national security -- and the debate about its aftermath has strengthened his hand.
“Of those who said it wasn't a success, 37% said it was because they didn't finish Hamas off while 31% said it wasn't a success because they didn't bring home (the captured Israeli soldier)Gilad Shalit,” Fuchs said. Some 11% said the government failed because of the high number of Palestinian casualties.
As rockets continued to fall on southern Israel, bitter divisions emerged within the cabinet Sunday over how to reach a more effective truce with Hamas. The Islamic resistance movement is considering an Egyptian proposal for a one-year agreement with Israel that would take effect on Thursday.
Barak, who has been exploring the deal through Egyptian mediators, recently said Israel was “on the verge of a long period of quiet”. But Livni accused Barak of bolstering the enemy: “A settlement with Hamas would give it legitimacy, and those working for that with the Egyptians need to understand that. We need to use strength and a lot of it, there is no reason to wait.”
While Barak vowed never to sign a deal with Hamas, he retorted: “In election season, there is a lot of chatter by people who have never held a weapon and don't understand the conditions under which we must act. Hamas was dealt a severe blow and it will be dealt one again, but the decision needs to be made by the experts.” -