(May 18) - A large white banner inscribed with a warning Just not Barak hung yesterday near the local Efrat community center, pretty much summing up the feeling of many residents of Judea and Samaria.

Children sporting National Union stickers waited outside schools where polling stations had been set up their parents grumbling about the long line and discussing, what else, politics.

Although we are disappointed in [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu, we have no other choice but to vote for him, said one elderly man to his friends. Vote for Barak and we'll have a catastrophe.

One women begged others in line to convince her mother to vote for Netanyahu. Meanwhile, a young man sporting a black kippa declared Agudat Yisrael and Netanyahu would get his vote.

Also in line were Richard and Rosalie Fiedler, who came especially to Israel from Skokie, Illinois to vote. They own a home in Efrat and make frequent visits to Israel. After Fiedler winds up his business, they intend to move here.

Fiedler and his wife paid full price for their air fare - the cheap flights being offered would have forced them to fly from Chicago to New York before continuing onto Israel.

Refusing to reveal who he planned to vote for, Fiedler declared: I came because it is imperative, I dont want to be perceived as part of a problem, but part of a solution, so that is why we came.

Throughout Judea and Samaria 219 voting stations were open yesterday, five of them in Efrat. Armed policemen guarded the entrances, some looking slightly bored. Those responsible for election procedures, however, were busy.

Nadia Matar of Women in Green exchanged her green hat for a plain denim blue one as she spent the morning as election supervisor, checking the polling stations and delivering cases of mineral water and paper cups donated by Avi, the local grocery man.

After fulfilling her duty, she donned her green hat again and drove off in her blue van emblazoned with National Union stickers, blasting the party's jingle on her car stereo.

The majority of Efrat's 1,200 families support Netanyahu, said Matar, despite the fact that they also supported the toppling of his government and some even felt that they had been betrayed by him. Still, said Matar, most have recognized that Netanyahu is their best choice.

If Ehud Barak and One Israel win the elections, said Matar, it will be a sad situation the Jewish state will have lost out to Arabs and the Russian goyim.

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