Tzipi Livni, of the centrist Kadima party, and Labour leader Ehud Barak both say they are believers in the creation of a Palestinian state, seeing it as a necessity if Israel is to remain both democratic and Jewish in character in the face of Palestinian population growth.
The idea that converting a small portion of deposits into equity claims in an economy with a population of barely more than 1 million could be a source of systemic risk suggests the hair-trigger character of the current situation.