President Shimon Peres this week, on Wednesday, is expected to meet with Kadima leader Tzipi Livni and Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu as he begins his decision-making process as to which party will receive the presidential mandate towards forming the next coalition government. On Thursday and Friday, the president will most likely meet with the heads of the remaining parties.

Seeking to eliminate “coalition extortion”, Yisrael Beitenu officials are now signaling that it will recommend to the president that the two leading parties sit and work out their differences until a deal is reached by which all the major parties can join a broad coalition government.

Officials in Avigdor Lieberman’s party explain they wish to bring an end to the era of “coalition extortion” and a situation in which coalition governments are doomed to be toppled in no-confidence motion, a reality that has resulted in instability in the Israeli political system and new elections every 2-2.5 years.

While Yisrael Beitenu’s statements are admirable, they are far from realistic; well-aware the parties are too politically unique to reach agreements on major issues, making a coalition agreement an improbability. In addition, Binyamin Netanyahu has already announced he rejects the option of a rotation government in which he and Tzipi Livni would rotate who sits at the helm of the government, rotating the premiership two years at a time [which has been done in Israel in the past].

In addition, even if Livni decides to join a Netanyahu-led government, it is unlikely she will be able or willing to explain the policies of Netanyahu’s government to the international community, policies which are far from her political beliefs.

In the meantime, Avigdor Lieberman, who now heads Israel’s third largest party, is calm as the two leading parties vie for the presidential mandate, well-aware that he can all but write his own ticket. Actually, Lieberman is now heading to Minsk for a vacation, apparently opting to use this time period to take a break after weeks on the campaign trail.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)