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Ehud Olmert, left, shakes hands with Labor Party leader Amir Peretz, before making an announcement to the press, Tuesday. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 4, 2006 |
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Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Tuesday that he'll seek to form a coalition with the center-left Labor Party, an alliance that would likely boost his plan to withdraw from much of Judea and Samaria, and draw Israel's final borders by 2010.
The announcement came after a meeting between Olmert, head of the centrist Kadima Party, and Labor's chief, Amir Peretz. The meeting signaled the end of a rift between Olmert and Peretz that began after last week's national election.
Both Olmert and Peretz said they'd try to forge the new coalition as quickly as possible.
In last week's election, Kadima emerged as the largest party in parliament with 29 out of 120 seats, followed by Labor with 19 seats. Under Israel's electoral system, the president, who holds a largely ceremonial post, traditionally asks the leader of the largest party to try to form a coalition government.
However, Labor initially balked at recommending to the president that Olmert be given that job, in what largely appeared to be a negotiating tactic and an attempt to pressure Olmert. Peretz' allies have said the ex-union boss wants to become finance minister, a demand Olmert was reluctant to meet.
However, Olmert and Peretz have held talks in the past two days, and appeared to be mending the rift.
With Peretz standing next to him, Olmert said: "We are happy to announce that immediately after the president gives me the mission of putting together a government, we will open coalition talks that will allow us to form a government in which the Labor Party will be a senior member."
Peretz, in turn, said he'd recommend to the president that Olmert be asked to form the coalition.
In their brief statements, neither Olmert nor Peretz discussed the distribution of Cabinet portfolios.
Labor has called for a quick resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians. However, it is also the party most likely to go along with Olmert's "consolidation plan," a dismantling of dozens of small Jewish settlements, the annexation of large settlement blocs and drawing a border in Judea and Samaria.
AP contributed to this report.
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