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  Netanyahu to Form Israeli Government
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ContributorArmyDem 
Last EditedArmyDem  Feb 21, 2009 10:14am
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Washington Post
News DateSaturday, February 21, 2009 04:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionLikud Leader Picks Up Far-Right Support, but Rival Livni May Head Opposition

By Linda Gradstein
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, February 21, 2009; Page A10

JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 -- Ten days after inconclusive national elections, Israeli President Shimon Peres formally asked Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday to form the next government. Although the rival Kadima party, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, won 28 seats to Likud's 27, a majority of parliament members said they supported Netanyahu for prime minister.

Livni has said she will not join a Netanyahu-led government and is prepared to lead Kadima into opposition. A former Likud member, Livni has supported U.S.-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, but Netanyahu and other politicians on the right of Israel's political spectrum are skeptical of or opposed to such talks.

If Netanyahu is unable to change Livni's mind, he will form a narrow right-wing government composed of 65 out of 120 members of parliament. Several of the far-right parties in the government have already said they would join a Likud-led coalition. But they are demanding that Netanyahu expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a move that would put the new Israeli government on a collision course with the Obama administration. And the smaller parties disagree among themselves on religious and other issues.
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