Word: olmert
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wasn't shy about his preference in last week's Israeli election: Ariel Sharon's heir Ehud Olmert and his centrist Kadima party. Kadima did win, but barely, capturing 29 of the 120 Knesset seats. "I wish Olmert had more seats," Abbas sadly told his aides. "Now he can't give us anything...
...Olmert no doubt wishes he had more seats too. Kadima's victory shows that a plurality of Israelis are apparently ready to sacrifice the ancient dream of a Greater Israel--stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River--for peace with a Palestinian state. But with his party far from a Knesset majority, Olmert will need other parties to back his plan for "disengagement" with the Palestinians--pulling out some Jewish settlements on the West Bank and creating permanent borders...
...Olmert?s wish can apply to the Palestinians - and to his prospective coalition partners. With only 28 seats for Kadima in the 120-seat Knesset, Olmert?s centrist party will need lots of friends, and plenty of prayers, to survive a full four-year term, political analysts say. A wobbly, Kadima-led government could end up being pulled in a dozen opposing directions by its future coalition partners. These will almost certainly include Labor (with 20 Knesset seats) and the Sephardic Orthodox party Shas (with 13) and possibly the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party (also with 13) representing the Russian...
...feisty Napoleons together. Party insiders admit that if Sharon were leading the party instead of lying in a coma after a January 4 stroke, Kadima would have fared far better. Now, Kadima will be at the mercy of many partners. Even as the votes were still being counted, Olmert?s advisers last night say they were swamped by calls from prospective coalition allies wanting in on the deal...
...Olmert, who was catapulted into the Kadima leadership after Sharon?s terminal illness, has a reputation as a tough, often acerbic backroom pol. Even so, he will need plenty more prayers to weave together a smooth-running government - not to mention working out peace with the radical Palestinians of Hamas...