VIRTUAL TIE IN ISRAELS ELECTIONS

Israeli rivals share tough line on Hamas and Iran By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer FEB 11,09

JERUSALEM – Israel's new coalition government — whether led by hard-line Benjamin Netanyahu or his moderate rival Tzipi Livni — is likely to take a tough line on two burning issues: Hamas and Iran.As the two began courting potential coalition partners Wednesday, two scenarios took shape: a narrow alliance of hawks who would stall peacemaking with the Palestinians, or a broad power-sharing government that would give Israel a more moderate face and greater international support.With only a few thousand votes by soldiers still to be counted, Livni's Kadima Party had one more seat in parliament than Netanyahu's Likud. But Netanyahu's natural allies on the right have a clear majority of 65 in the 120-seat parliament, giving him the edge in forming a coalition.President Shimon Peres will consult all 12 parties in the new parliament next week before choosing either Netanyahu or Livni to try to form a government — a process likely to take weeks if not months.The two offer vastly different approaches when it comes to peacemaking with the Palestinians: Livni supports giving up territory to make room for a Palestinian state, while Netanyahu has said he considers current U.S.-backed Mideast peace talks a waste of time.However, they both take a hard line when it comes to the Islamic militants of Hamas, who overran the Gaza Strip in 2007, and the potential threat of Iran's nuclear program.Both threaten harsh military action against Hamas if rocket fire from Gaza persists and reject negotiations with Hamas in the wake of a punishing Israeli offensive in Gaza last month. They also agree the Hamas regime should be toppled, though neither has spelled out how that should be done.

As for Iran, Israel considers it the nation's biggest threat and rejects Tehran's assertion that its nuclear program is to produce energy, not bombs. Both Livni and Netanyahu have hinted that military action might be necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining an atomic weapon.These key areas of accord might nudge Netanyahu and Livni into a joint government, especially since neither is in a strong position as coalition maneuvering begins.The results of Tuesday's vote were inconclusive. Likud has only 27 seats to Kadima's 28 — less than a quarter of the house each — which means that whoever forms the government will have to lead a fractious coalition. The key is held by Avigdor Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu Party emerged as the third-largest with 15 seats. Though he is firmly in the hawk camp, he did not rule out serving under Livni.Political Tangle, read the headline on the front page of the Yediot Ahronot daily, flanked by smiling photos of the two would-be premiers.

Lieberman hopes to redraw Israel's borders to push areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs outside the Jewish state and under Palestinian jurisdiction. Those who remain would be forced to sign an oath of loyalty to Israel, and anyone who refused would lose the right to vote or run for office.A Likud-Kadima national unity government could leave Lieberman, whose rise in Israeli politics is troubling to many in Israel and abroad, on the sidelines.One possibility is a government based on Netanyahu's fellow hard-liners. Another is a broad national unity team under Netanyahu or Livni, with participation of the other, along with the centrist Labor and some small parties.A third option is a power-sharing arrangement in which one would serve as prime minister for a set period, and then the other would take over — an arrangement called rotation when it was tried in the 1980s.

The outcome could prove critical to peace efforts.

Livni spent a year leading Israel's team in negotiations with the Palestinians and is committed to the idea of a Palestinian state. So, too, is Defense Minister Ehud Barak's Labor Party. Netanyahu, by contrast, has staked his political reputation on opposing the sweeping territorial concessions that would be required to clinch such an accord.Besides broad agreement over Iran and Hamas, internal politics might push the two together. Joining forces with Livni could allow Netanyahu to exclude from his government extreme nationalists whose presence could cause trouble with the Obama administration, which wants to move ahead quickly on an Israel-Palestinian peace deal. It could also let him avoid costly capitulation to ultra-Othodox Jewish parties that traditionally have demanded large budgets for pet projects as the price for joining governments. In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama looks forward to working with whoever makes up that next Israeli government in a search for lasting and durable peace in the region.In a speech early Wednesday in which he claimed victory, Netanyahu said he would push for a national unity government, but he would start with his natural allies. Livni, too, called for a national unity government but did not specify with whom. Dan Meridor, a veteran politician who returns to parliament under the Likud banner, told The Associated Press Wednesday that a broad-based government is the best option. I've been in narrow governments and broad governments, and a broad government is much easier to handle,he said. But nothing is certain. Netanyahu himself talked of going it alone as the votes were being counted. The Israeli people have expressed their opinion clearly and sharply, he said in his victory speech. The national camp, led by the Likud has won a clear advantage. ... The people want a change. The people want to follow a different path. Our path has won, and it is the path that will lead the people.Former Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Wednesday the election showed an Israeli turn to the right. There is no difference between Livni, Netanyahu and Barak,he told The Associated Press in Washington. The election results show that Israel is responding with negative change to Obama.Meanwhile, Israel gave approval Wednesday for the export of 25,000 flowers from Gaza to Europe. The shipment of carnations, the first in more than a year, came at the request of the Dutch government, it said in a statement. Associated Press writer Barry Schweid in Washington contributed to this report.

Israel's Election Dashes Hopes for Peace Wed Feb 11, 5:10 pm ET

WHAS TV11 Louisville AP – Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, centre greet supporters at the Likud election headquarters in … Israel's election on Tuesday ended in a near draw, with the two front runners - centrist Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni and hawkish Likud chief Benjamin Netanyahu - each claiming victory. With nearly all votes counted, Livni's party won 28 Knesset seats, and Netanyahu's 27 seats, both falling well short of a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The result could be the worst possible outcome for Israel, guaranteeing weeks of political turmoil ahead and stalling any attempts by U.S. President Barack Obama's Administration to restart Middle East peace talks. Whoever comes to power in Israel is likely to be tugged in different directions by combative coalition partners. In the past, smaller parties have held governments of both the right and the left hostage to their narrow, self-serving agendas. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East.) As the single largest party, Kadima will try to approach President Shimon Peres next week for permission to form what Livni calls a national unity government that would be founded on the large parties in Israel from both Kadima's left and right. It is a logical option. But Livni lacks support among the other parties. For starters, she needs to coax Netanyahu to join her. The two parties actually share many of the same policies and ideologies - Kadima broke away from Likud and drifted to the center - and, in theory, their combined strength could usher in a solid, center-right government. But the mutual antagonism of both leaders makes an accommodation all but impossible. Netanyahu, for example, refused to debate with Livni in public, and both rivals launched smear attacks against each other.

Netanyahu, a former Prime Minister, insists that he should be Israel's next Premier, not Livni. He may be right. Political analysts say the Likud leader stands a far better chance of stitching together a right-wing coalition with small religious groups and Yisrael Beitenu, a nationalist, anti-Arab party that was the surprise in this election. At the last poll, in 2006, Yisrael Beitenu won just 11 seats. Yesterday it won 15, knocking the venerable Labor Party, which picked up 13 seats, into fourth place. With Kadima and Likud both far short of a majority in the Knesset, Yisrael Beitenu's controversial leader, Avigdor Lieberman, has emerged as a key power broker. Speaking to his party supporters at midnight as votes were being tallied, Lieberman indicated that his natural inclination is to side with Netanyahu. We want a right-wing government, he said flatly. Lieberman also took a swing at the outgoing Kadima-led government for entering into Egyptian-brokered cease-fire talks with Gaza's Islamic militants, Hamas. We will not have direct or indirect negotiations with Hamas nor a cease-fire, he said, adding that he would join any government that had as its objective the defeat of Hamas.Political commentators and pollsters say Israelis shifted back to the right out of dissatisfaction over the failure of peace talks with the Palestinians and a lingering sense that the Gaza war ended too soon, without crushing Hamas militants or ending their rocket fire into southern Israel. The rightward tilt is a blow to President Obama's hopes that a new Israeli government might be willing to make peace with the Palestinians and various Arab neighbors. Netanyahu and Lieberman are pushing for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians say is a main obstacle to peace, and they are adamant that Israel should hang on to the Golan Heights, which was seized from Syria in the 1967 war. Netanyahu and Lieberman also say the army ought to return to Gaza and wipe out Hamas. During the campaign, Netanyahu said, There will be no alternative but to bring down the regime of Hamas, a terrorist organization pledged to our destruction. Ultimately, Israel cannot tolerate an Iranian base right next to its cities.Livni's bid to become Israel's first female Premier since Golda Meir in the 1970s looks increasingly hopeless. Spurned by Netanyahu, she will turn left to Labor and other smaller parties - but the only way she can make the numbers add up to a 61-seat majority is if she entices Lieberman to join her. The drawback is that if she succeeds, Labor and the leftist parties will leave in disgust. The Arab parties, which have a total of 11 seats, are also unlikely to join a Livni-led coalition because they remain angry over the Gaza invasion. Israeli Arabs voted in big numbers after Lieberman insisted that all Israeli Arabs take a loyalty oath or else lose their citizenship. Jamal Zahalka, leader of the Arab party Balad, said Israel's assault in Gaza also rallied voters. The Zionist parties all supported what happened in Gaza, so Arab voters reacted by voting for us and not the Zionist parties.

Whoever Peres picks to form a new government - and it will probably be Netanyahu - that person will have 42 days to glue together a coalition. Most likely, the bartering will drag on for weeks, with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert staying on as caretaker, probably until early April. Before the voting, Israelis said they wanted a strong leader. What they have instead is a prolonged period of political disarray.- With reporting by Jamil Hamad / Bethlehem and Aaron J. Klein / Jerusalem.

Hamas deputy leader in Cairo for truce talks by Samer al-Atrush Samer – Wed Feb 11, 3:36 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – A senior Hamas delegation led by the Islamist movement's deputy head Mussa Abu Marzuk arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, the eve of another round of talks on a truce in the Gaza Strip.Senior Hamas official Mohammed Nasr, a member of the delegation, said they will meet Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Thursday to discuss guarantees that crossings between Gaza and Israel would remain open during a truce.We've come for this matter, regarding the siege and guarantees (it would end), Nasr told AFP.We wish to discuss with our Egyptian brothers what they can provide as guarantees ... we are looking for a mechanism, he said, adding that one possibility might be stationing European observers at the crossings.Egypt has been mediating a truce in Gaza after Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 their own ceasefires to a devastating 22-day war in the enclave, which killed at least 1,330 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.The fragile calm after the war ended has been tested by Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks into Israel and Israeli air strikes in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.Ending the blockade has been a key Hamas demand and the reason it says it launched rockets and mortars after a six-month truce with Israel ended in November 2008. Israel said it conducted its operation in Gaza to end the rocket fire.Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip after the Islamists violently took it over in June 2007, routing Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas

Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, has said it will not open the crossing in the absence of European Union monitors and representatives of the Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas.Hamas officials have said Israel offered to reopen the crossings to allow between 70 and 80percent of goods into Gaza, barring those it says may be used to make weapons.Hamas has demanded clarifications on the goods that would be allowed into the impoverished enclave and guarantees that Israel would not be able to re-impose the blockade.The Islamist movement has said it would agree to an 18-month truce with Israel in exchange for an end of the blockade.But the group has refused an Israeli demand to release an Israeli soldier militants captured in a cross-border raid from Gaza more than two years ago, saying Gilad Shalit will only be released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.The delegation that will meet with Suleiman is the highest ranking one yet to attend the Egyptian-mediated truce talks. This is the first visit by Abu Marzuk, who is second-in-command of Hamas's powerful politburo, to Egypt since the end of the Gaza war.It also includes the Gaza-based Mahmud Zahar, thought to be the overall leader of Hamas in the occupied Palestinian territories.Zahar had met with Suleiman last week before heading to Syria to consult with Hamas's Damascus-based politburo.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had proposed during the war in Gaza a three-point plan that began with a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, followed by meetings with Palestinian and Israeli officials to secure a longer truce.

The plan also proposed the resumption of Palestinian reconciliation talks -- which Egypt suggested begin on February 22 -- that had foundered in November after Hamas boycotted a meeting with its Fatah rivals in Cairo. Hamas said the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank continued to arrest its members. Hamas officials have said Egypt proposed the creation of several committees on issues that divide Fatah and Hamas, including one on political prisoners, ahead of a Fatah and Hamas reconciliation. Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed told the Arab television station Al-Arabiya that he met with Hamas officials on Tuesday and they discussed implementing the Egyptian proposal. We completely focused on the articles of the Egyptian proposal in all its details to allow the beginning of talks that are due to begin on the 22nd,he told the broadcaster.

Egypt, Turkey call for Palestinian reconciliation Wed Feb 11, 3:14 pm ET

ISTANBUL (AFP) – The leaders of Egypt and Turkey said Wednesday that reconciliation between the two main Palestinian groups was crucial to establish a lasting truce in Gaza after Israel's deadly operation.Israel's attack would have been out of the question if there were no divisions and disagreements among the Palestinians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told a new conference after talks with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.I underlined (to Gul) the importance we attribute to national Palestinian reconciliation because the interests of the Palestinian people are above reconciliation between the groups, he said, through a translator.Egypt has stepped up contacts with envoys from Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas running Gaza, seeking a durable truce.Both sides called separate ceasefires on January 18, following Israel's 22-day offensive on Gaza which killed around 1,330 Palestinians.

But progress towards a permanent ceasefire has been slow despite repeated announcements of imminent success.The Egyptian truce plan also calls for Hamas and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement to reconcile and form a government that would be acceptable to the international community.But the two movements have been deeply divided since Hamas wrested control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007, a rift that has widened since the Israeli offensive.Hamas has also called for an alternative to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) -- recognised internationally as the sole representative of the Palestinian cause since 1974 -- that would include itself and the radical Islamic Jihad group.Mubarak said the PLO --in which Fatah is the most powerful member -- must be maintained.This organization is the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, he said.Gul meanwhile said Turkey would continue to support Egypt's efforts to establish a permanent truce in Gaza and help reconcile Palestinians.It is vital to have unity among Palestinians and Arabs, he said, with a new government coming to power in Israel following elections and a new administration in Washington.Both leaders also called for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. Cairo is holding an international aid conference for the war-battered territory on March 2.One of Israel's few Muslim allies, Turkey has been strongly critical of the deadly assault on Gaza and has actively sought a ceasefire, shuttling between exiled Hamas leaders and Egyptian officials.

Jordan bans sermons by Islamists over Gaza: Brotherhood Wed Feb 11, 2:43 pm ET

AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan has banned eight prominent Islamists from delivering Friday sermons at mosques in the country for sharply criticising Israel's war in the Gaza Strip, the Muslim Brotherhood said on Wednesday.The Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowment) and Islamic Affairs has permanently banned them from delivering Friday speeches, telling them that they crossed certain lines, Hamil Abu Baker, the Brotherhood's spokesman, told AFP.Apparently the decision was taken after our brothers, who deny crossing any lines, spoke strongly against the Zionist crimes in Gaza during Friday prayers.The eight Muslim Brotherhood members include former awqaf minister Ibrahim Zeid Kilani as well as ex-MPs Nedal Abbadi, Ahmad Kofahi and Abdul Majid Khawaldeh.Abbadi had in one of his sermons urged Arabs to take action against Israel and boycott Israeli and American products, according to a statement on the website of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the brotherhood.

Abbadi also blasted an Arab country for providing the Israeli army with vegetables and fruits during the aggression, in reference to an Egyptian company, the statement added.Abu Baker said the ban restricts freedoms and is part of government measures against the Islamists.The government has banned us from holding anti-Israeli rallies and our students are being harassed at universities, he said.Government officials were not immediately available for comment.The IAF is the main opposition party and has six seats in the 110-member lower house of parliament.Israel, which signed a peace treaty with Jordan in 1994, hammered Gaza for 22 days in December and January, killing more than 1,300 people and causing massive destruction throughout the tiny Palestinian territory.

Israeli rivals battle for power after tight vote by Patrick Moser – Wed Feb 11, 1:49 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hawkish ex-premier Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in a battle for power on Wednesday after a photo-finish election that could send peace talks into limbo.Livni's centrist Kadima party won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament, just one ahead of Netanyahu's Likud party, leaving the country facing perhaps weeks of political uncertainty.An overall lurch to the right has made it more likely that Netanyahu will return to the nation's most powerful post, but Livni immediately started coalition talks, meeting on Wednesday with ultra-nationalist Avigdor Lieberman.This is an opportunity for unity that can promote issues that are important for our two parties. They agreed to continue their contacts, Livni's office said after the meeting with the Yisrael Beitenu leader, who has emerged as a kingmaker after Tuesday's vote.Lieberman, who met Netanyahu later in the day, kept his cards close to his chest. We will clarify our positions and will do our part in putting together a cabinet as soon as possible,he said after his talks with Livni.Another party leader who saw Netanyahu was Eli Yishai, head of the religious Shas group, which is in the current government but fell out with Livni over her refusal to keep the future of Jerusalem out of Middle East peace talks.Hardline parties gained ground on the back of the Gaza war and security concerns, and the right's likely return to power could hamper US-backed efforts to revive the faltering Middle East peace negotiations.Both Netanyahu -- who became Israel's youngest prime minister in 1996 -- and Livni swiftly laid claim to the premiership.

Under Israel's political system, it is the party considered best able to form a coalition -- and not necessarily the winner of the most seats -- which will be tasked by the president with forming a new government.President Shimon Peres has said he will begin consultations next week.Netanyahu can in theory rally 65 seats, including Likud's 27, 15 won by ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, 11 from the ultra-Orthodox Shas, five from the religious United Torah Judaism and seven from two extreme-right settler parties, Jewish Home and National Union.Livni can count on the support of 44 MPs including Kadima's 28, 13 from Labour and three from the left-wing Meretz.The remaining 11 seats are held by Arab parties, which are highly unlikely to join any coalition.The new kingmaker is Lieberman, a 50-year-old tough-talking Soviet immigrant and onetime bouncer whose Yisrael Beitenu bumped the veteran Labour party to a historic low of 13 seats.The Palestinian Authority expressed dismay at the right's strong showing. It's obvious the Israelis have voted to paralyse the peace process, senior negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.A spokesman for Hamas -- the target of Israel's three-week war on Gaza that killed over 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis -- said voters had picked the most bellicose candidates, those who are the most extremist in their rhetoric.The White House declined to comment on the results, but pledged to work for Middle East peace with whichever government emerges from the cliffhanger polls.We look forward to working with the next Israeli government to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and Israel, national security council spokesman Michael Hammer said. The European Union urged the future Israeli government to work on building an independent Palestinian state and to honour the Jewish state's peace obligations. We hope that the new Israeli government will honour the obligations taken by Israel ... and refrain from measures rendering a two-state solution impossible, the EU's Czech presidency said in a statement.

Although pundits are eyeing Netanyahu as prime minister, observers said he does not want to form a purely right-wing government in order to avoid a clash with Washington and to head off the risk it could be held hostage to the whims of smaller parties. But his wish for a unity government is complicated by Livni's performance as she is unlikely to agree to join such a coalition unless she leads it. Amid the stalemate, a rotating premiership used in the 1980s is starting to emerge as a viable option.Livni will serve for two years as prime minister, after which Netanyahu will serve for two years, wrote the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot. The voters will love that solution, at first at least. Netanyahu will love it less. Livni isn't going to be overjoyed with the solution, but she probably won't have much of a choice.

US pledges to work for peace with next Israeli government Wed Feb 11, 1:20 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House declined to comment Wednesday on the results of Israel's election, but pledged to work for Middle East peace with whichever government emerges from the cliffhanger polls.We look forward to working with the next Israeli government to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and Israel, national security council spokesman Michael Hammer said.Such an effort would be based on a firm focus on ensuring Israel?s security and advancing the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel and its neighbors,he said.We congratulate the citizens of Israel on their elections, Hammer said.The United States and Israel share many values, chief among them our deep and abiding commitment to democracy. Israeli elections are lively and passionate, but always peaceful.Hammer declined to say whether US officials were concerned that the apparent rise of right-leaning parties in the elections could have a negative impact of President Barack Obama's hopes for a vigorous peace process.State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said he believed the peace process would continue no matter what government emerges in Israel.We certainly hope that a new government will continue to pursue a path to peace. I see no reason to think that a new government would ... do something otherwise,Wood told reporters.But, again, let's wait for a new government to be formed and then we can talk more about the issue, he added.

Iran denies Cypriot-flagged ship carrying arms to Gaza Wed Feb 11, 2:28 am ET

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran denied on Wednesday that a ship being detained by Cypriot authorities reportedly by request of the United States and Israel was carrying weapons to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.The ship was not taking arms and weapons (to Gaza), foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghasghavi told a news conference.He said the Cypriot authorities were only asking about the consignment and if it was carrying weapons things would have been clear.Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou has said a UN committee ruled that the Cypriot-flagged ship currently anchored off the southern port of Limassol was in clear breach of UN sanctions but did not say against which country.A senior Cypriot official had confirmed to AFP that the shipment, intercepted in the Red Sea two weeks ago, was in breach of a ban on Iranian arms exports.Israeli media has reported that Monchegorsk was suspected of carrying Iranian arms for Gaza and was detained by the Cypriot authorities in response to requests from United States and Israel.Sending the shipment back has been ruled out, so Cyprus needs to decide whether it will confiscate the cargo or send it to a third country following consultations with UN Security Council members.

Israel has long accused Iran of arming the Islamists in Gaza, a claim Tehran denies even though it says it offers moral support to Hamas.

Kadima beats Likud by single seat in Israel vote Tue Feb 10, 10:31 pm ET

JERUSALEM, (AFP) – Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party won a razor-thin victory in the Israeli election Wednesday, gaining one more seat than right-wing rival Likud, according to a final ballot count.Israel's central election commission said Kadima won 28 seats in the 120-member parliament, followed by Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party with 27.Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party came in third with 15 seats -- its best-ever showing -- and the centre-left Labour party fell to 13, its worst performance in any Israeli election.The ultra-Orthodox Shas party came in fifth with 11 seats.In Israel's unusual political system the party with the most seats does not necessarily lead the next government, and Netanyahu stands a good chance of becoming prime minister on the back of overall gains by right-wing parties.

Netanyahu, Livni declare win in Israeli election By STEVEN GUTKIN, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 11, 12:19 am ET

JERUSALEM – Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hard-line rival Benjamin Netanyahu both claimed victory Tuesday in Israel's parliamentary election, but official results showed a race so close it could be decided by a third candidate — a rising power among the hawks.Right-wing parties — including Netanyahu's Likud Party — appear to have won a clear majority of 65 seats in the 120-seat parliament, which would give Netanyahu the upper hand in forming the next government.However, with 99 percent of the votes counted, Livni's centrist Kadima Party had 28 seats, while Likud had 27. Those results could change by a seat or two — enough to alter the outcome — when soldiers' votes are tallied Thursday evening.The winner of the election wasn't clear in part because Livni could try to form a coalition with hawkish parties. It appeared ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, who based his campaign on denying citizenship to Israeli Arabs he considers disloyal, could single-handedly determine the country's next leader with his decision of whom to join.He declared after the vote that he spoken to both Livni and Netanyahu and told them he could be persuaded to join either one, but he added that he wanted a nationalist right-wing government.

Whoever comes out on top, the political wrangling was likely to drag on for weeks, and with it the fate of international Mideast peace efforts.A win by Livni, who favors giving up land to make room for a Palestinian state, would boost President Barack Obama's goal of pursuing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.A government led by Netanyahu, who opposes concessions to the Palestinians, could put Israel and the U.S. on a collision course. Netanyahu says he would allow West Bank settlements to expand and is seen as likely to contemplate military action against Iran.With God's help, I will lead the next government, Netanyahu told a raucous crowd of cheering supporters chanting his nickname, Bibi. The national camp, led by the Likud, has won a clear advantage.Soon after, Livni took the stage before a crowd of flag-waving supporters and flashed a V for victory sign. Today the people chose Kadima. ... We will form the next government led by Kadima.Even if Livni could overcome the formidable obstacles and become Israel's second female prime minister after Golda Meir, she would almost certainly be hindered by right-wing coalition partners opposed to her vision of giving up land in exchange for a peace deal with the Palestinians.The election was called after she failed to put together a ruling coalition when scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he was stepping down last fall.Nevertheless, applause, cheers and whistling erupted at Kadima headquarters in Tel Aviv as television stations began reporting their exit polls, with supporters jumping up and down and giving each other high-fives and hugs.In his speech, Netanyahu told his supporters that he was proud of the gains by his hard-line party. He called for a broad-based coalition, but said he would first turn to his natural partners in the national camp, a reference to other hard-liners opposed to peace concessions.The partial results marked a dramatic slide for Netanyahu, who had held a solid lead in opinion polls heading into the election.

Israelis vote for parties, not individuals. Since no party won a parliamentary majority, the leader of one of the major parties must try to put together a coalition with other factions — a process that can take up to six weeks.In coming days, President Shimon Peres will ask a candidate to try to put together a government. Peres, who hails from Kadima and served for decades in the dovish Labor Party, could lean toward Livni as opposed to Netanyahu — who once defeated Peres in the 1996 election — as the candiate most capable of forming a government. But if a parliamentary majority tells him it favors Netanyahu, he will have to pick the Likud leader.If Livni's projected victory holds, it is likely due to a strong showing by Lieberman, who appears to have taken a sizable chunk of votes that would have otherwise gone to Netanyahu. The partial results gave Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu Party 16 seats, placing it in third place behind Kadima and Likud — and ahead of Labor, the party that ruled Israel for decades. That gives Lieberman a key role in coalition building. Lieberman said his party's strong showing means he holds the key to forming the new Israeli government. Lieberman could serve in a Livni government because he is not a classic hawk who rejects any compromise with the Palestinians. Like Livni, he favors giving up parts of the West Bank. Lieberman and Livni converge on other issues that could for a basis for cooperation. It is up to Lieberman who will form the next coalition, said Menachem Hofnung, a professor of political science at Hebrew University. Lieberman has emerged as the kingmaker. He is the winner of these elections, and it depends on who he sides with over the next few weeks as to who will be prime minister.Netanyahu, who was prime minister a decade ago, portrayed himself as the candidate best equipped to deal with the threats Israel faces — Hamas militants in Gaza, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and behind them an Iranian regime that Israel believes is developing nuclear weapons. He has derided the outgoing government's peace talks as a waste of time, and said relations with the Palestinians should be limited to developing their battered economy.

Livni, who has led Israel's peace talks the past year, has pledged to continue the negotiations with the moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank. At the same time, she advocates a tough line against the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip, and was one of the architects against a bruising Israeli military offensive in Gaza last month. At Likud headquarters, activists dismissed Kadima's edge and predicted Netanyahu would be tapped to form the next government. I am certain that Netanyahu will be the next prime minister, said Likud lawmaker Gilad Erdan. Netanyahu has a clear advantage because the right-wing parties have a larger bloc. The test is not which party gets the most votes, but which candidate has the best chance to form a coalition, and that person is Benjamin Netanyahu.Kadima lawmaker Haim Ramon predicted the party would lead the next government. We are the only party that can approach both the right wing and the left, he told Channel 2 TV. But he acknowledged the results would make it difficult for anyone to govern. Israel's Palestinian peace partners in the West Bank said the next Israeli government would have to stop building settlements in the West Bank before talks could resume. We now have clear conditions for whoever heads the Israeli government, said Rafiq Husseini, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The conditions for negotiations to resume begin with the immediate halt of settlement activities.Peace talks have not included the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers, who do not recognize Israel's right to exist and recently were the target of a devastating Israeli military offensive. In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the election results don't make a difference in the lives of Palestinians because Israel is still working to eliminate the Palestinian existence. Anyone who thinks that new faces might bring change is mistaken,Barhoum said, before the exit polls were released. Associated Press writers Aron Heller and Karen Zolka in Tel Aviv, and Josef Federman and Dalia Nammari in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Divisive Lieberman a big winner in Israel election By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer Aron Heller, Associated Press Writer – Tue Feb 10, 5:53 pm ET

JERUSALEM – One of the big winners of Israel's election Tuesday is its most divisive politician, an ultranationalist settler who owes his surging political fortunes to Israeli Jews' deepening distrust of the country's Arab minority.Avigdor Lieberman hopes to redraw Israel's borders to push areas with heavy concentrations of Arabs outside the Jewish state and under Palestinian jurisdiction.Those who remain would be forced to sign an oath of loyalty to the Jewish state, and anyone who refused would lose the right to vote or run for office. Some 20 percent of Israel's 7 million citizens are Arabs and about a dozen serve in parliament.Without loyalty, there is no citizenship was Lieberman's campaign slogan, which was plastered nationwide across buses and billboards.According to exit polls, Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu, or Israel is Our Home party, has become the third-largest faction in parliament, making him the power broker on Israel's fractured political scene.It is up to Lieberman who will form the next coalition, said Menachem Hofnung, a professor of political science at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Lieberman has emerged as the kingmaker. He is the winner of these elections and whoever he sides with will be prime minister.Lieberman's rhetoric has hit home with Jewish voters frustrated by tense relations with Israel's Arab citizens, who nominally enjoy equal rights but are discriminated against in terms of municipal services, education and employment opportunities. Some Israeli Arabs have also openly spoken of their desire for a single state for Jews and Palestinians, in effect erasing the Jewish state.The outgoing government's lack of progress in peace talks with the Palestinians, along with the recent war with Hamas militants in Gaza, brought a yearning for a tough-talking leader. Lieberman, who has called for executing Israeli Arab lawmakers who met with Palestinian militant leaders and has advocated bombing Iran and Egypt, fit the bill.A democracy doesn't need to commit suicide to prove its justness. Israel has to stop apologizing, Lieberman has said, shrugging off accusations of racism. The Arabs have all the rights, but they don't have a right over the land of Israel.

While it is unlikely Lieberman could carry out his pledge to enforce a loyalty oath, his strong electoral showing could give him a loud voice in foreign policy. His penchant for stirring up controversy could strain the Jewish state's relations with the international community.Lieberman, 50, rose to prominence as the engineer of Benjamin Netanyahu's successful run for prime minister in 1996, and he later became Netanyahu's chief of staff. A powerful behind-the-scenes mover who lives in the West Bank settlement of Nokdim, he became widely feared for his strong-arm tactics, earning himself the moniker, the CEO.The Moldovan-born Lieberman, who still speaks in a thick Russian accent, later created the Yisrael Beiteinu party in 1999 to represent the more than 1 million immigrants from the former Soviet Union.Since then, the party's parliamentary strength has nearly quadrupled, stretching beyond immigrant communities and into the Israeli mainstream.After every war, the right always comes out stronger, said Professor Zeev Sternhell of The Hebrew University. Lieberman's popularity is simply a reflection of Israeli society. That's democracy and that's what society looks like.

Berlusconi in Mideast talks with Abbas, Mubarak Tue Feb 10, 3:38 pm ET

ROME (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met Tuesday with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.Berlusconi met first with Abbas and the two leaders heaped praise on Mubarak and US President Barack Obama for their efforts in the Middle East.The two leaders expressed their appreciation for the important role of mediator played by President Mubarak and greeted with satisfaction the diplomatic action of US President Barack Obama, a joint statement said.Egypt has stepped up contacts with envoys from Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, seeking a durable truce after both sides called separate ceasefires on January 18 following Israel's 22-day offensive on Gaza.Progress towards a permanent ceasefire has been slow despite repeated announcements of imminent success.For his part, Obama late last month sent his special Middle East envoy George Mitchell to the region, and Mitchell intends to return at the end of this month.The Abbas-Berlusconi statement said their talks mainly concerned the situation in Gaza, prospects for strengthening the ceasefire, efforts to achieve national reconciliation among Palestinians, and the resumption of the peace process with Israel.In the statement, Berlusconi reiterated that Italy was prepared to offer all the support needed to strengthen the ceasefire and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population.Berlusconi, who currently chairs the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations, later met with Mubarak and said he had accepted an invitation to attend an international aid conference for Gaza in Cairo on March 2.I will be at the conference as head of the Italian government but also as current president of the G8, Berlusconi told reporters. Italy appreciates what Mubarak does to help resolve the crisis in the Middle East.

We have followed his fruitful efforts for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, just as we follow his current efforts to transform the ceasefire into a durable truce, the Italian leader said.Mubarak said Italy can play a key role at the aid conference and recalled that Berlusconi had proposed a type of Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Palestinian territories and institutions.I am convinced that Italy will be able to make an important contribution to the success of the conference on Gaza, Mubarak said.

Amnesty accuses Hamas of eliminating opponents Tue Feb 10, 7:20 am ET

GENEVA (AFP) – Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Hamas of waging a campaign to kill or maim scores of Palestinian opponents in the Gaza Strip since the end of December.The human rights group said in a report that at least two dozen men have been shot dead by gunmen from the Palestinian militia that governs the Gaza Strip since December 27.Scores of others have been shot in the legs, knee-capped or inflicted with other injuries intended to cause severe disability, subjected to severe beatings ... or otherwise tortured or ill-treated, it added.Hamas forces and militias in the Gaza Strip have engaged in a campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of collaborating with Israel, as well as opponents and critics, the report said.

The victims included members of Palestinian Authority security forces and members of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, Amnesty said.The campaign began shortly after the beginning of the three-week Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip on December 27 and continued after the ceasefire on January 18, according to Amnesty.Palestinian human rights groups and victims first made such accusations at the end of last month, saying the Hamas rulers of Gaza were persecuting members of the rival Fatah movement to quash any opposition.Taher al Nunu, a spokesman for Hamas, denied the charges at the time, dismissing them as lies spread by Ramallah, where Abbas and the Palestinian Authority are based.Amnesty International said the targets included former detainees who were accused by Hamas of collaboration with Israel after escaping from Gaza's central prison when it was bombed by Israeli forces on December 28.Some were shot dead in hospitals where they were being treated for injuries suffered during the bombing raid, sometimes in front of distraught relatives, according to the testimony gathered by the human rights group.The perpetrators of these attacks did not conceal their weapons or keep a low profile, but, on the contrary, behaved in a carefree and confident -- almost ostentatious -- manner, the report noted.Amnesty said there was no doubt that the victims were abducted, killed, shot and tortured by Hamas security forces and armed militias, adding that the evidence was incontrovertible.It called on the Hamas de facto administration to immediately end the campaign, accept an independent and impartial investigation and guarantee that victims and witnesses would not be targeted.