Olmert wins agreement on new Israeli coalition deal

AFTER three weeks of negotiations, Israel’s premier yesterday put together a coalition government that backs his plan to pull out of parts of the West Bank and draw the country’s final borders by 2010.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced key cabinet appointments, naming Tzipi Livni, a pragmatic jurist and rising star in Israeli politics, as vice premier and foreign minister. Livni, aged 47, had served as acting foreign minister in recent months.

The appointment makes Ms Livni, a protegé of former prime minister Ariel Sharon who spent four years working at the Mossad intelligence agency, the number two player in male-dominated Israeli politics.