Israel moves towards forming new government

ISRAEL yesterday took its first steps toward forming a new government widely expected to be led by interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who wants to set the country’s final borders with or without Palestinian agreement.

President Moshe Katsav, who will choose a party leader to put together a governing coalition, met members of Mr Olmert’s centrist Kadima party which won the most parliamentary seats in the March 28 election.

He then held talks with the centre-left Labour Party which came second.

Discussions with all parties that won seats are likely to last several days.

Both Kadima and Labour said they told Mr Katsav their leaders should form the next government. Kadima took 29 seats in the 120-member parliament to Labour’s 20.

Kadima said it wanted to build a broad coalition.

Mr Olmert wants to remove settlers from swathes of the occupied West Bank if peacemaking with the Palestinians stays frozen. But Israel would keep major settlement blocs under the plan and trace a border along a barrier it is building in the West Bank, where 240,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians.

Meanwhile, police in Israel headed off a suicide bombing yesterday when they stopped a car trying to enter the northern town of Beit Shean, police said.