JERUSALEM -- On one level, the questions shaking the Israeli political system this week are pragmatic: how many ultra-Orthodox men and Arab citizens should be drafted into the military or national service, over how many years and how should those who resist be penalized?

But the debate over these details masks a more fundamental and fractious one about evolving identity in this still-young state, where a ''people's army'' has long been a defining principle, and about the growing cleavage among its tribes.

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