One former Israeli prime minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, has bowed out of the race. Another, Mr Shimon Peres, has until tomorrow to make up his mind, but is likely to conclude that, at 77, his time has passed.
And so, it seems, Israel's prime ministerial elections on February 6th will be a battle of the generals: The incumbent Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, once the army's chief of staff, and the veteran Likud party leader, Gen Ariel Sharon, the indomitable ex-defence minister who orchestrated Israel's ill-fated invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Mr Sharon, now 72 and showing it, is the Arab world's least favourite Israeli politician - tarred by an Israeli commission of inquiry with indirect responsibility for the Lebanon war massacre by Christian Phalangists of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps. But Mr Barak is hardly a Palestinian darling either, accused of overseeing his army's tough response to the ongoing 12-week uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in which almost 300 of the 330 fatalities have been Palestinians.
And yet, while Mr Sharon has adopted the improbable campaign slogan "Only Sharon Can Bring Peace", there is a world of difference between the two men when it comes to the terms for peacemaking. And Mr Barak's more conciliatory approach might, just possibly, yield an agreement before election day that would resolve Israeli-Palestinian tensions and secure his return to office.
While Gen Sharon's readiness for territorial compromise with the Palestinians extends to no more than 60 per cent of the West Bank, and zero per cent of municipal Jerusalem, Mr Barak - at the new round of negotiations that were getting under way in Washington last night - is offering the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, almost all of the West Bank, a share in Jerusalem, and the possibility of a "creative solution" on the core dispute, the status of the Temple Mount.
The odds are still heavily against a breakthrough. But President Clinton, now entering his final month in the White House, says he is "ready, as always, to do whatever I can" to broker a deal. Mr Arafat is meeting today in Cairo with President Mubarak to weigh the path forward. The daily clashes, though continuing, have tapered off a little this week. And Mr Barak has managed to edge his most dangerous opponent, Mr Netanyahu, out of the election.
Mr Netanyahu said, accurately, yesterday that "within 60 days I could be the prime minister". He chose not to compete because the Knesset chose not to dissolve itself. And, as prime minister between 1996 and 1999, he has presumably had his fill of attempting to preside over a bitterly divided parliament.
Mr Netanyahu added that, sooner rather than later, he believed parliament would opt for full general elections, "and when that happens, I'll be there".
If Mr Barak and Mr Arafat can achieve an unlikely deal, and Mr Barak can sell it to the Israeli electorate, Mr Netanyahu's short-lived attempted comeback will become a historical footnote. But if not, it is the battle of the generals, the Barak-Sharon showdown on February 6th, that will turn out to be the irrelevance, and Mr Netanyahu's return will merely have been briefly delayed.
AFP reports from Jerusalem
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Patriarch Michel Sabbah, called yesterday for Israel and the Palestinians to reach a "just solution" on the city.
"What was Palestinian and is Palestinian should be given to the Palestinians and what was Israeli and is Israeli should be given to the Israelis," the patriarch said. "Jerusalem is the heart of the Palestinian cause and a just solution for both sides has to be reached."
The patriarch was speaking after Israel suggested yesterday it would be willing to consider ceding sovereignty over the alAqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City in return for Palestinians renouncing the right of return for several million refugees.
Patriach Sabbah also protested at the continued "siege" of Bethlehem a week before Christmas.