Israeli coalition fast-tracks steps bringing fresh polls

JERUSALEM－Israel's coalition government will vote to dissolve parliament next week, announced the Prime Minister's Office on Monday, sending the country to the fifth elections in three years.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his main coalition partner Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid decided to present a bill to dissolve parliament next Monday, the office said in a statement.

Once parliament approves the bill, Lapid, leader of centrist party Yesh Atid, will rotate with Bennett and serve as interim prime minister until the next government is established.

The elections are expected to take place in October, reported state-owned Kan TV news.

"Citizens of Israel, we stand before you today in a difficult moment, but with the understanding that we have made the right decision for the people of Israel," Bennett said in a joint statement alongside Lapid, which was broadcast live on the country's main television channels.

Bennett noted that he and Lapid decided on the move in the wake of their failure to pass regulations that provide protection to Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

The regulations will expire at the end of June, but the opposition, mostly composed of pro-settler parties, voted against a government sponsored bill to extend them in order to force the coalition to resign.

Bennett, leader of pro-settler party Yamina, said he held a series of consultations with judicial and security officials on Friday that made him realize that the expiration of the regulation will create "horrible damages".

He said the coalition "left no stone unturned" in an attempt to raise enough votes to pass the bill in parliament, but the efforts were "fruitless".

Bennett and Lapid have struggled to keep together the shaky coalition of eight parties since its establishment last year, but a series of defections left it without a majority in parliament for more than two months.

On the international stage, Bennett repaired Israel's bipartisan standing in Washington, which suffered after former premier Benjamin Netanyahu's close ties with former president Donald Trump. He also deepened fledgling ties with Gulf Arab countries, and repaired frayed relations with Egypt and Jordan.

Despite its successes, the coalition eventually unraveled, in large part because several members of Bennett's own hard-line party objected to what they felt were his pragmatism and moderation.

In Gaza, the Palestinian group Hamas, which does not recognize Israel's right to exist, said it would not alter its course with any new government.

Xinhua - Agencies