Hawkish Beiteinu Party Joins Israeli Coalition

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JERUSALEM — The Cabinet voted overwhelmingly yesterday to bring into the government a hawkish party that opposes ceding territory to the Palestinian Arabs and wants to redraw Israel’s borders to exclude many Israeli Arabs.

The vote, which still needs parliamentary approval, gives Prime Minister Olmert’s coalition a commanding majority in Parliament. But the inclusion of the hard-line Yisrael Beiteinu party likely puts an end to Mr. Olmert’s election campaign promise to pull out of much of the West Bank.

Weakened badly by last summer’s war in Lebanon, Mr. Olmert agreed last week to bring in Yisrael Beiteinu to shore up his shaky coalition. The party’s blunt-talking leader, Avigdor Lieberman, will be deputy prime minister in charge of “strategic threats,” primarily how to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The ministers voted 22–1 to accept Yisrael Beiteinu into the government. In a final stamp of approval, the full Parliament was expected to follow suit in a vote later in the day.

With Yisrael Beiteinu’s 11 lawmakers on board, Mr. Olmert is expanding his parliamentary majority to 78 of 120 seats, bringing some much-needed stability to a coalition riven by infighting after the Lebanon war.

However, Mr. Olmert appears to have little interest in reviving his West Bank withdrawal plan, which was put on hold after the Lebanon war, and does not appear close to reviving long-stalled peace efforts with the Palestinian Arabs.

Mr. Olmert said yesterday that Mr. Lieberman’s presence in the government would not result in any policy changes.

“I think it is important that we act in the diplomatic arena,” he told lawmakers in his Kadima Party. “This includes the Palestinian issue first and foremost.”

Israel has boycotted the Palestinian Authority since Hamas militants won legislative elections early this year and formed a Cabinet. Mr. Olmert has expressed willingness to talk to the Palestinian Arab president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate rival of Hamas, but the two sides have been unable to agree on even a limited agenda.


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