61.   Still, the religious parties abandoned Barak after Camp David.

62.   That case involves Aryeh Deri, leader of the religious Shas party, who has been under indictment for fraud and bribery for several years.

63.   The chaos that their infighting created led to the rise of the Taliban, the militant armed religious party that now controls most of Afghanistan and harbors bin Laden.

64.   The likely result will be more power for religious parties in determining such things as the nature of public education in Israel and possibly bus service.

65.   The most damaging defection came from the Sephardic religious party, Shas.

66.   The prime minister paid a brief call on the spiritual head of the religious Shas party, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, then met with his lawyer, Weinroth.

67.   The one party that is certain of gaining is Shas, a religious party based among North African and Middle Eastern Jews.

68.   The religious parties are still looking for Barak to compromise on his campaign pledge to draft the yeshiva boys, who are now exempt from mandatory army service.

69.   The religious parties have never won significantly at the polls, remaining stuck in the single digits.

70.   The power of the religious parties is immense because their support is critical to the fragile coalition of the Netanyahu government.