• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Israeli parliament due to confirm new Likud government

RIA Novosti

31/03/2009 09:54 TEL AVIV, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - Israel's parliament will vote on Tuesday to approve the government coalition assembled by Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who stands to become prime minister for the second time.

In order to get the votes for confirmation in the 120-seat Knesset, Netanyahu has brought together five parties with offers of top posts in a Cabinet so large that a new table is on order to accommodate the 30 ministers.

Soviet emigre Avigdor Lieberman of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party will take over as foreign minister, while the center-left Labor party was brought into the coalition by leader Ehud Barak, who retains the post of defense minister.

The inclusion of Labor allows Netanyahu to speak of a government of national unity, and he has said he will continue the peace negotiations of the previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert. However, he has not acknowledged the fundamental principle of a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict.

In securing the foreign and also the public security ministries for Yisrael Beiteinu, Lieberman is at the center of international concerns about the prospects for the peace process with the Palestinians, already reeling after Israel's three-week assault on Gaza at the turn of the year.

He has sparked controversy in the past by saying Israeli Arabs should be forced to pass a loyalty test or lose their citizenship, and calling for the annexation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. However, last month Lieberman said he supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, rejecting the "far right" label commonly applied to him.

With key positions given to coalition members, Netanyahu has had to placate members of his own party with lesser jobs, increasing the number of ministries and creating several minister-without-portfolio positions.

The two other parties in the government, the ultra-orthodox Shas and the small settler party Habayit Hayehudi, bring the coalition to 69 MPs. They have been given four and one Cabinet posts, respectively, while Likud will have 15 and the other two parties have five each, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.