TZIPI LIVNI confirmed yesterday that her centrist Kadima party will be going into opposition, leaving Israeli prime minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu no choice but to set up a narrow coalition based solely on right-wing and religious parties.
His Likud party is expected to accelerate contacts with the five other coalition parties next week in an effort to finalise policy guidelines and the distribution of portfolios in order to present the new government within the allotted three-week deadline.
After two hours of talks with Mr Netanyahu, the second meeting this week between the two, Ms Livni declared that the prime minister-designate had refused to commit to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Two states for two peoples is not an empty slogan. It is the only way Israel can remain Jewish and fight terror. It’s a fundamental issue,” Ms Livni said, promising Kadima would be a responsible party of opposition.
But Mr Netanyahu said he told Ms Livni he plans to advance the peace process with the Palestinians.
He implied the Kadima leader was not genuinely committed to unity, which he said was particularly vital now, considering the escalating Iranian threat and rising domestic unemployment.
Mr Netanyahu said he was prepared to make significant compromises for unity.
“I offered an equal number of ministries, including two out of the top three, I said I intended to move peace negotiations forward,” Mr Netanyahu said, blaming the lack of a breakthrough clearly on the foreign minister. “If there’s a will, there’s a way; and if there is a will there is unity,” he declared.
Mr Netanyahu badly wanted both Kadima and the left-wing Labor party, headed by defence minister Ehud Barak, to join him in a broad-based unity coalition. But both parties elected to go into opposition.
His expected coalition will have the backing of only 65 members of the 120-seat Knesset parliament, leaving Likud at the mercy of each of the smaller partners.
The expected government is also far from homogenous. Yisrael Beiteinu, the second-largest coalition party, is at odds on issues of religion and state with the religious parties.
Mr Netanyahu is opposed to territorial concessions in the West Bank.
Any move away from the land-for-peace formula could bring Israel into conflict with the international community led by US president Barack Obama, who has vowed to “aggressively pursue” Middle East peace.
Ms Livni, who as foreign minister headed peace talks with the Palestinians, told Kadima colleagues she didn’t want to act as a fig leaf for a right-wing government which will stall the peace process.
Most commentators believe a narrow government will not last much longer than a year to 18 months in office.
Ms Livni opted for the opposition benches believing she can present a viable alternative to a disgruntled Israeli public in the not too distant future.
And Mr Netanyahu refused to offer the one carrot that might have tempted Kadima: a rotation agreement with both party leaders serving two-year terms as prime minister.