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Netanyahu picked to form Israel govt
AFP - 2 hours 31 minutes ago
JERUSALEM (AFP) - - Hawkish Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked on Friday with forming a new Israeli government, fuelling concerns that a right-wing coalition could torpedo the Middle East peace process.
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President Shimon Peres made the request in a letter he handed to Netanyahu, who accepted, also in writing, at a ceremony in the president's Jerusalem residence.
Peres reached the decision after meeting separately with Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni of the rival centrist Kadima party in the hope of convincing them to form a broad government alliance.
But Livni, the outgoing foreign minister, emerged from the talks saying: "I will not be a pawn in a government that would be against our ideals."
"Things are clear. What is being created is a government without political vision, a government with no values.
"We need a government based on a two-state solution," she said in reference to the concept of a viable Palestinian state being formed alongside Israel.
Netanyahu believes the time is not ripe to discuss the key issues raised in the Middle East peace negotiations, including the borders of a proposed Palestinian state, and wants the talks to focus on improving daily life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
He insists Jerusalem will remain Israel's undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed, to be the capital of their future state.
Netanyahu, 59, has also insisted he would not be tied by a recent pledge by outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to withdraw settlers from the occupied Palestinian territory.
As premier from 1996 to 1999, he put the brakes on the peace process, in part by authorising a major expansion of Jewish settlements.
But he also made more concessions than his hardline rhetoric had led Israelis to expect, and under US pressure he concluded two agreements with the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The Likud chief has vowed that if he returns to power he would topple the Hamas rulers of Gaza and put a stop to rocket attacks which have continued sporadically since the January 18 end of Israel's 22-day Gaza military offensive that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.
The far-right parties he is likely to include in his coalition now that Livni has made it clear she would head to the opposition benches have little interest in the peace talks, however.
While Likud, with 27 of the 120 parliamentary seats, won one seat less than Kadima in the elections, Netanyahu emerged as the only one able to rally sufficient support to form a government coalition.
He cleared a major hurdle on Thursday when ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman gave him the support of his far-right Yisrael Beitenu party which will have 15 MPs in the new parliament.
Netanyahu can count on the support of 65 of the 120 members of parliament, but will have to rely on parties to the right of his own despite his stated preference for a broad coalition that would include Kadima.
"A narrow right-wing government is Netanyahu's default choice," the mass-circulation Yediot Aharonot newspaper said on Friday.
"He knows that such a government will not live out its term, and will become a 'paralysis government' that is dependent on small factions and sectarian parties," the daily added.
Netanyahu will have 28 days to put together a coalition. If necessary Peres can extend the deadline by 14 days.
The election was called after Olmert handed in his resignation in September after being questioned repeately by police over a series of graft allegations. He was grilled on Friday for the 15th time since last May.
Olmert has stayed on as acting premier.
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Enlarge Photo
Israel's Likud party leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a conference of US Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, February 16. Netanyahu was picked on Friday to form a new Israeli government, fuelling concerns that a right-wing coalition would torpedo the Middle East peace process.
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