Mar 20 2009
Israel’s Government Under Construction
The dust is still settling for Israel’s new coalition government. Prime Minister - designate Benjamin Netanyahu has until the start of April to form his coalition. He has had no trouble winning over the members of the right-wing, and could continue joining with them with no problem, but Netanyahu promised a balanced government. He needs either the Likud party or the Kadima party to do that.
The centrist Kadima party, headed by Tzipi Livni is out of the question. They won the most seats in February’s election, with 28. Kadima wants to pursue peace talks with the Palestinians, with a two state resolution on the table. Ehud Barak’s Labor party wants the same thing. Although Labor only managed to gather 13 seats, this is the center-left camp that Netanyahu is trying to win over. Barak himself seems poised to join, arguing that their presence could help facilitate peace talks, but others in his party have no interest in joining Netanyahu. Probably for the same reason that Kadima doesn’t want to - they would be a nominal part of a passive attempt at a peace process made by a hawkish government. Netanyahu’s Likud party favors diplomacy with the Palestinians, but has no intention of offering them sovereignty. His focus would be on their economy and security force. Considering this is not a viable option for the Palestinians, everything is at stake here with Netanyahu’s government. If he can’t win over Labor, and is forced to take more members from the right, then prospects for peace are dim. The far-right party, Yisrael Beiteinu won 15 seats in the election. Netanyahu already offered the post of Foreign Minister to the party’s leader, Avigdor Lieberman. With such a nationalist stronghold, could Labor have any influence at all if it chose to jump into the new coalition, or would they just serve their purpose of appearances? The other issue at stake here is Tehran. Israel feels that Iran is a serious threat. They will have elections in June. We will have to see if Ahmadinejad takes the office of President again, or if a more moderate leader can overtake him.
