Israel moves closer to bruising election race

ISRAEL MOVED closer to a bruising election campaign that will decide the future of peace talks yesterday, as polls showed moderate foreign minister Tzipi Livni in a surprisingly close race with hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu.

Neither of Israel’s two leading political parties would have enough seats to form a government on its own, according to the surveys, which also showed an even split between the country’s hawkish and center-left blocs. That signals more deadlock in peacemaking with Syria and the Palestinians.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expressed concern that precious time was running out.