Washington, DC -- A day after the fourth round of general Israeli elections in two years, with most of the votes counted, Israel seems still stuck in an ongoing, almost endemic political crisis.

But the real crisis is not the absurd cycle of elections. The real destructive crisis threatening Israel's security and democracy is its 53 years of occupation and de-facto annexation of the West Bank that pushes Israelis and Palestinians farther still from an eventual settlement to their conflict.

Benjamin Netanyahu may or may not be able to form a coalition after all the votes are tallied and after the usual coalition building horse trading is exhausted. Even if he does, it will be a shaky coalition, which depends on extremists who proudly espouse racist and homophobic ideology.

We at Americans for Peace Now (APN) have lived through many times of political crisis, but have also experienced many moments of breakthrough and hope.

We remain hopeful that the vibrant, resourceful Israeli society will generate the leader and a constituency for a stable, governable political environment, and will choose to walk the path of peace with its Palestinian neighbors. We know it is possible because we have seen it happening in the past. We have confidence in our brothers and sisters in Israel to push for change, and we here, in the United States, will continue to act to promote such change.

APN experts are available for comment. Please email onir@peacenow.org