Israel’s interim Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said on Tuesday that his centrist Kadima Party expected the Labor Party to be its senior partner in a coalition government being formed after elections last week.
With Labor leader Amir Peretz at his side, Olmert said he wanted to form a government soon. Talks are expected to begin as soon as Wednesday.
Kadima won the most seats in the March 28 elections, but fewer than expected, on its plans to lay down Israel’s final borders with or without Palestinian agreement. It secured 29 seats in the 120-member parliament. Labor came second with 19.
“We are happy to announce that immediately after the president empowers me to put together a government we will start coalition talks ... to establish as quickly a possible a government with the Labor Party as the senior partner,” Olmert said.
Other parties among candidates to join Olmert are the Pensioners Party with 7 seats, and two ultra-Orthodox Jewish factions, Shas with 12 seats and United Torah Judaism with 6.
Most can be counted on to support an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
Olmert’s plan is to trace a border along a barrier Isreal is building in the West Bank, where 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians. Israel would keep major Jewish settlement blocs.
Palestinians condemn such a move, saying it would annex land and deny them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Hamas in power
A new Palestinian government led by the Islamic militant group Hamas took office last week, vowing to continue fighting Israel. Hamas is sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction.
Olmert’s decision to negotiate with Labor follows a secret meeting in which the interim premier agreed to offer Peretz a senior cabinet post, possibly the defense ministry, a political source said.
The post was offered to Peretz, a former trade unionist, in a bid to persuade him to drop a demand for the Finance Ministry.
Kadima fears Labor’s demands for increased social spending would strain the state budget and make financial markets nervous.