Netanyahu gov’t takes power after hard talks
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 01, 2009 00:00
JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu's government prepared to take power yesterday after a hard-fought election and weeks of furious coalition negotiations and political maneuvering.
Israel's Knesset, or parliament, was set to hold a special evening session to swear in Netanyahu as prime minister along with his Cabinet of 28 ministers, an unwieldy coalition that includes ultra-Orthodox parties, a hard-line religious party, a hawkish secular faction, and the centrist Labor Party, along with Netanyahu's Likud as Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday.
To placate his new partners and his allies, Netanyahu created new ministerial positions - so many that parliament carpenters had to work overnight to enlarge the Cabinet's table. Netanyahu has been busy remodeling his own image in recent weeks. After an election campaign in which he roundly criticized the outgoing government's peace talks with the Palestinians, he has softened his position, bringing Labor into the coalition and saying he would pursue peace with the country's Arab neighbors.
Israelis and Palestinians greeted the new government with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Some were uncertain exactly what to make of it.
"I don't know if it's good. It's hopeful. I don't know if it's right wing, I don't know if it’s left-wing. It's something different," said Monica Haber of Nokdim, a West Bank settlement. Nokdim's most famous resident is Avigdor Lieberman, who - in a choice that would have been unthinkable several months ago - will serve as Israel's new foreign minister.
One of the country's most polarizing politicians, Lieberman centered his successful election campaign on a proposal, widely seen as anti-Arab, to strip the citizenship of people who do not swear loyalty to the Jewish state.
International pressure
Not everyone in Nokdim seemed thrilled with the new government. Moshe Hacohen said international pressure has traditionally limited conservative governments' ability to maneuver. "It's best not to make a big deal about anything, and just to do what you have to do," he said.
Yariv Oppenheimer, who heads the Israeli group Peace Now, said he was certain peace activists would be busy during Netanyahu's term, trying to push his government.
"The new Israeli government is one of the most right-wing governments that we have had here in Israel. ... Unfortunately, we think that as a peace movement we are going to have a lot of work in the upcoming years to protest against this government," he said. He did grant that "sometimes in Israel the right-wing government is doing the opposite and making peace and compromise."
To placate his new partners and his allies, Netanyahu created new ministerial positions - so many that parliament carpenters had to work overnight to enlarge the Cabinet's table. Netanyahu has been busy remodeling his own image in recent weeks. After an election campaign in which he roundly criticized the outgoing government's peace talks with the Palestinians, he has softened his position, bringing Labor into the coalition and saying he would pursue peace with the country's Arab neighbors.
Israelis and Palestinians greeted the new government with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Some were uncertain exactly what to make of it.
"I don't know if it's good. It's hopeful. I don't know if it's right wing, I don't know if it’s left-wing. It's something different," said Monica Haber of Nokdim, a West Bank settlement. Nokdim's most famous resident is Avigdor Lieberman, who - in a choice that would have been unthinkable several months ago - will serve as Israel's new foreign minister.
One of the country's most polarizing politicians, Lieberman centered his successful election campaign on a proposal, widely seen as anti-Arab, to strip the citizenship of people who do not swear loyalty to the Jewish state.
International pressure
Not everyone in Nokdim seemed thrilled with the new government. Moshe Hacohen said international pressure has traditionally limited conservative governments' ability to maneuver. "It's best not to make a big deal about anything, and just to do what you have to do," he said.
Yariv Oppenheimer, who heads the Israeli group Peace Now, said he was certain peace activists would be busy during Netanyahu's term, trying to push his government.
"The new Israeli government is one of the most right-wing governments that we have had here in Israel. ... Unfortunately, we think that as a peace movement we are going to have a lot of work in the upcoming years to protest against this government," he said. He did grant that "sometimes in Israel the right-wing government is doing the opposite and making peace and compromise."