Amram Mitzna's diplomatic-security message is clear. He is ready to resume negotiations immediately, with any Palestinian leader willing to do so. If there are no negotiations, he will strive for physical and political separation between Israel and the territories via a deep unilateral withdrawal and rapid construction of an effective security fence. This is a clear alternative to the right's policies.

Labor is hungry for such clarity. For about two decades -- excluding the Oslo period -- this party has suffered from a blurring of its message, whether through participation in unity governments or through the eternal battle for those tempting votes that supposedly float between the two ideological blocs.

With Mitzna at its head, Labor will apparently benefit from a platform and a leader that highlight the deep differences that still exist between these blocs.

-- Haaretz, Tel Aviv, Israel