Israel set to elect hardline government

Israel looks set to elect a new hardline government in elections tomorrow.

Polls predict a clear victory for Likud over the ruling Kadima Party, reflecting public sentiment linked to anger over rocket fire from Gaza and a belief among voters that territorial withdrawals have only drawn more violence.

Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu is the favourite to win, with the moderate foreign minister, Tzipi Livni of Kadima, running a close second.

The polls indicate that parliament is likely to be heavily fragmented, with no clear victory for any one party, but will be easily dominated by parties that oppose territorial concessions.

Meanwhile the fighting in Hamas-controlled Gaza continued with a Palestinian militant killed in a clash with Israeli troops and Israeli aircraft striking two targets.

Riad Malki, foreign minister in the moderate Palestinian government based in the West Bank and headed by Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival, claimed that Hamas was trying to influence the outcome the elections by continuing to fire rockets into southern Israel.

Hamas doesn’t want to see a pro-peace government elected because it would pursue a political deal with Mr Abbas, Mr Malki said.

Mr Abbas’ government is “very much worried” that the rocket attacks might “really push Israeli public opinion and the voters to vote for an anti-peace government,” he said.

The violence coincided with stepped-up efforts by the two sides to anchor a shaky ceasefire that ended Israel’s devastating three-week offensive aimed at halting the rocket fire.

Hamas is seeking to get Gaza’s blockaded border crossings open, while Israel wants an end to arms smuggling into the territory and the return of a soldier captured by Hamas in June, 2006.

The talks are being mediated by Egypt, as the sides will not communicate directly with each other. A delegation of Hamas leaders from Gaza was in Syria today to consult with the Islamic organisation’s exiled leadership there.