Israel's Peres ushers in right-leaning parliament

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

" Israel's president ushered in a right-leaning parliament Tuesday and gave lawmakers a tall order: conclude an elusive peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of their term.

Shimon Peres delivered his appeal just days after selecting the hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition government following this month's national election.

Netanyahu can easily put together a government of lawmakers who oppose the sweeping territorial concessions that would be necessary for a deal.

But a government of nationalist and religious hard-liners could put Israel sharply at odds with the Obama administration, which wants to aggressively pursue an end to 60 years of Mideast conflict. Next week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make her first visit since taking office. Top Mideast envoy George Mitchell will make a second trip this week.

Netanyahu has been approaching centrist parties in an effort to give his new government greater stability and a moderate face that the international community would more easily accept. He has six weeks to form a government.

At the swearing-in ceremony of the 18th Knesset, or parliament, Peres told lawmakers that peace with the Palestinians would be recognized as regional peace with all of Israel's neighbors. It was time, he said, to put war aside.

"We countered fire with fire, yet the cessation of violence should be concluded through negotiations. Negotiations with the Palestinians need to continue until an accord will be found," he said. "We don't want to rule over another people, and we don't want another people to rule over us."

The 120 lawmakers elected Feb. 10 then took the oath of office."

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[fascisthunter]

1. very very bad for Israel

these right wingers are dangerously fanatical, blind and ignorant.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Sounds like Peres himself isn't too happy with the composition of the new parliament.

[Ken Burch]

3. Well, Peres helped cause this rightward swing when he deserted the Labor party

just because it had the temerity to elect a non-Ashkenazi leader instead of simply handing him the leadership back when he demanded it.

If Peres had backed Amir Peretz, Kadima would likely never have had its breakthrough and Netanyahu would not have had a chance for a comeback.

[oberliner]

4. A lot of what-ifs

Suffice to say, Peres cannot be pleased with the results.

[Scurrilous]

5. Israel's next government will be 'more Jewish and more Zionist'

<snip>

"Israel's next government will be "more Jewish and more Zionist", the confident faction leader of the right-wing National Union party declared Thursday, following coalition talks with members of Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

"There was very positive atmosphere at the meeting (with Netanyahu)," said Yaakov Katz, as he emerged from the talks at Kfar Maccabiah in central Israel. "...There is an understanding with Likud that the next government will be more Jewish and more Zionist."

Netanyahu, who was tapped to form the next government following national elections two weeks ago, initially turned to mainstream Kadima and Labor, but was rebuffed. Some Kadima members are, however, rebelling against party leader Tzipi Livni's determination to sit in opposition, and urging her to join a Likud-led coalition.

But a senior member of Likud said Thursday that differences over Palestinian statehood are likely to scupper Netanyahu's efforts to forge a broad government with Livni.

"There is across-the-board agreement on Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas but there is a big gap between Kadima and Likud on the two states for two people. It's unsolvable," Silvan Shalom, a senior Likud legislator and former foreign minister, told Army Radio.

Netanyahu plans to meet Livni on Friday in another attempt to recruit Kadima. He wants to shift the focus of U.S.-sponsored peace talks from thorny territorial issues that would set the boundaries of a state to shoring up the Palestinian economy."

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[LeftishBrit]

6. What does he mean by 'more Jewish and more Zionist'?

Almost all members of Israeli governments are Jews; Arabs have been members but in very small numbers. Does he mean 'religiously Jewish'? And, since anyone who chooses to be part of the government of Israel is essentially by definition Zionist (I don't easily imagine somebody saying "Hello, I'm the Israeli Foreign Secretary, and I want Israel to disband!"), he must have his own meaning for the word.

[Ken Burch]

7. Didn't you know the last government was Unitarian and pacifist?

:sarcasm: