Netanyahu fails to convince Labour Party to join government - Summary

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Jerusalem - Attempts byIsraeli Prime Minister-Designate Benjamin Netanyahu to form a unity cabinet with rival parties received another blow Monday, when the head of the centre-left Labour Party rejected his overtures to join in a wall-to-wall coalition. "I told Mr. Netanyahu that we would be a responsible, serious and constructive opposition," Labour leader Ehud Barak said after the meeting in a Jerusalem hotel.

"The voter's verdict steers the Labour Party into the opposition and we respect it," said Barak, whose party received only 13 of the 120-Knesset seats at stake in the February 10 parliamentary elections, its lowest showing ever.

Israeli President Shimon Peres asked Netanyahu to form a government on Friday, after consultations with Knesset factions revealed he had the best chance of putting together a coalition.

Netanyahu's hardline Likud Party won 27 seats in the election, one less than that garnered by the centrist Kadima faction led by Tzipi Livni, but a majority of legislators recommended him for the premiership.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/257084,netanyahu-fails-to-convince-labour-party-to-join-government--summary.html

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1. Livni warms to coalition with Likud

Tzipi Livni yesterday dropped her outright rejection of such a prospect, which she had expressed only days ago.

Ms Livni yesterday met Mr Netanyahu for the first time since they both claimed victory in the February 10 election, and said after that meeting there was no reason they could not meet again for further talks.

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Ms Livni's position on the weekend appeared to soften, leaving the way open for joining a Netanyahu coalition. Two days before, she had described the government about to be formed by Mr Netanyahu as "extremist" and "dysfunctional".

But it is believed there is much debate inside Kadima about whether the party should join the government, with some telling Ms Livni they believe it would be better for the party to have an influence on national government with so many vital issues facing Israel rather than to risk becoming irrelevant in opposition.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25096445-2703,00.html

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2. Netanyahu Fails to Recruit Livni, Barak for Coalition (Update2)

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Israel’s Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu failed to convince Kadima head Tzipi Livni and Labor chief Ehud Barak to join in a new government under his leadership amid disagreements over Middle East peace efforts.

Netanyahu and Livni met at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem late yesterday after President Shimon Peres tapped the Likud leader on Feb. 20 to form the next government. Parties that won a majority of seats in the Feb. 10 election recommended Netanyahu as the new prime minister.

“We found common ground on some issues and differences on others,” Netanyahu told reporters after the talks. Livni said while no progress was made “on issues of substance,” she had agreed to hold a further discussion with the Likud leader.

Netanyahu has expressed the desire for a coalition that includes Kadima and Likud, saying it would help Israel with challenges such as dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat, the Hamas- ruled Gaza Strip and the impact on Israel of the global economic crisis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8eghXkHuET4&refer=worldwide

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3. National Union to demand Likud unfreeze settlement construction

National Union plans to demand in coalition talks with Likud that the government allow construction in all settlements where it is now effectively frozen, and to legalize most illegal outposts.

Specifically, the party will demand the legalization of any outpost "located on land that does not pose a substantive obstacle" - meaning, primarily, any outpost not located on private Palestinian land.

It also will ask for the incoming government to cancel four military orders that it says discriminates against settlers; abolish the Justice Ministry's task force on enforcing the law against Jewish settlers; revive and provide adequate funding for the Jewish Agency's settlement division, which used to carry out the lion's share of construction in the territories; enact legislation that would enable West Bank lands to be restored to their pre-state Jewish owners; increase funding for settlement security; and restore "national priority" status, which confers tax breaks and other economic benefits, to various West Bank settlements. Habayit Hayehudi, for its part, plans to demand during its coalition talks with Likud that the government not express support for establishing a Palestinian state and explicitly rule out both negotiations on Jerusalem and a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

However, the party will also pose numerous demands with regard to religious issues and education. For instance, it wants to bar commerce on Shabbat, grant teachers a raise and pass legislation setting a ceiling for class sizes and a limit below which weekly classroom hours cannot be cut. It also seeks to create a ministerial committee to deal with settlers evacuated during the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, many of whom still have neither homes nor jobs.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1066212.html

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4. Lieberman: Unity Government or Possible Elections

(IsraelNN.com) Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday during a party faction meeting that if a unity government is not formed, it may be better to go to elections again. Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has said he would like a unity government but Kadima and Labor have so far answered in the negative.

Lieberman told his party members: “We still believe that the best thing for the country is a wide government. If this won’t occur we will have a dilemma – What’s better? A narrow government or elections. This is not a simple issue and the matter is not clear to me either. Together we will make the proper decisions.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/161262