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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Talks Start In Israel To Form Cabinet

Marjorie Miller Los Angeles Times

Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu opened talks with potential partners for a coalition government Monday amid signs that he might be distancing himself from the extreme right wing of his own Likud Party.

Netanyahu’s negotiating team began bargaining with members of the eight political parties that are vying for 18 Cabinet posts, but former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon’s efforts to secure a ministry reportedly were stalled.

Sharon, one of the most hard-line and popular figures within Likud, is said to have wanted either the defense or finance portfolio. When Netanyahu refused to guarantee him either one, the burly retired general declined the prime minister-elect’s request for help with coalition negotiations, and the two ceased talking, Israeli radio and television reported.

Netanyahu allies, meanwhile, seemed to dismiss former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s statements in an interview published Monday in which the Likud elder statesman urged the 46-year-old leader to resist international pressure to continue with the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords and called for immediate expansion of Jewish settlements in the predominantly Palestinian West Bank.

“The key here is to follow the statements of the prime minister-elect himself,” said Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, Dore Gold. “Because this was a direct election, he has greater powers. Netanyahu is the boss, and it is a mistake to look at what a variety of figures are saying.”

Unlike past leaders, Netanyahu was chosen by direct vote on May 29 under a new law that for the first time allowed Israelis to cast separate ballots for prime minister and for a party for parliament.

In his victory speech Sunday night, Netanyahu vowed to unify the nation, which last week’s vote showed is deeply divided along ideological and religious lines, and to continue peacemaking with the Arab world. But he offered no details.

Netanyahu has 45 days from the election to form a coalition and win approval from a majority of the 120-seat parliament, called the Knesset. His aides have said he hopes to finish the job by June 17.

The Likud leader ran on a ticket of three parties - Likud, Tsomet and breakaway Gesher, a party founded by Netanyahu’s old rival in the Likud, David Levy. Political observers said Levy is virtually certain to become foreign minister in exchange for his party’s votes of support.

Tsomet leader Rafael Eitan, another radical opponent of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, reportedly is one of five party leaders vying for the job of housing minister - one coveted because it allows the funneling of construction funds to the Cabinet member’s constituencies.

Three religious parties, Shas, the National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism, flexed their new-found muscle after a strong showing in the election, announcing they will bargain as a bloc - although all three reportedly are also after the job of religious affairs minister.

Netanyahu met with National Religious Party leader Zevulun Hammer and, apparently irked by how large a role the religious parties want in his government, issued a thinly veiled reminder that time is on his side. “We may have to use all 45 days that we are given,” Netanyahu said.