Israel looks set for early election

Israeli prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni yesterday abandoned her efforts to form a government, putting Israel on course for new elections that could endanger fragile progress to end decades of Arab-Israeli conflict.

Palestinians worried that the decision could put a year's worth of peace talks in limbo for months, until the elections are held. The balloting could also clear the way for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Arabs, to reclaim the premiership.

Livni had been trying to cobble together a government since she replaced the corruption-tainted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of the ruling Kadima Party in September. But partners in the current coalition, which took power in May 2006, used the changing of the guard to press new demands.

In a statement yesterday, Livni said she was willing to make concessions but had to draw the line at "impossible" demands.

"When it became clear that everyone and every party was exploiting the opportunity to make demands that were economically and diplomatically illegitimate, I decided to call off (talks) and go to elections," she said.

Livni had been scheduled to formally convey her decision to President Shimon Peres in the early afternoon. But she put off that meeting after parliament speaker Dalia Itzik embarked upon a last-ditch bid to salvage the coalition talks.

If that effort fails, elections for Israel's 120-seat parliament, scheduled for November 2010, are likely to be moved up to February or March, political commentators have said. In his ceremonial role, Peres makes the final decision on whether and when to hold elections.

Peres technically could ask another politician to try to form a government before elections are forced. However, as leader of the largest party in parliament, Livni was the only candidate with a realistic chance of piecing together a coalition.

Early elections had appeared likely since Friday, when the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party announced it would not join a Livni-led government.

Livni resisted Shas' demands that she refuse to negotiate a power-sharing arrangement with the Palestinians for Jerusalem, whose eastern sector the Palestinians claim as capital of their hoped-for state. She also refused to promise Shas the hundreds of millions of dollars it demanded for social welfare and its religious seminaries, aides said.

Shas has been a key member of the outgoing coalition, and without the party's support, it would be difficult for Livni to maintain a parliamentary majority. Other religious factions later refused to partner with her.

Before Livni's coalition-building efforts faltered, opinion polls had given her and Netanyahu even odds on taking power.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/27/2008 page8)