world >> on the cover

Israeli
Elections

U.S. to renew push for peace following
new coalition formation.

Netanyahu is now working
to form a coalition
government.

Ron Friedman I Times of Israel

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

by former Foreign Minister Avigdor
Liberman, which ran in a joint list with
Likud that won 31 seats in the election.
The inclusion of political newcomer Yair
Lapid and his centrist Yesh Atid, that won
a surprising 19 seats in the Knesset and
is now Israel's second largest party, may
assist Netanyahu in making the argument
that advancing the peace process with the
Palestinians is vital for the stability of the
coalition.

Likud minister Silvan Shalom indicated
on Friday that a new government, led by
Netanyahu, would indeed seek to renew dia-
logue with the Palestinians.
"The effort to renew political negotiations
with the Palestinians is one of the principles
of the government we will form," Shalom
said.
Asked if the State Department finds it
reassuring that Israelis voted for parties that
agree with the principles espoused by the
U.S., spokesperson Nuland said, "I think
what we find reassuring is that Israel contin-

ues to be a democratic beacon out there in
the world and to have a very vibrant system
and process for ensuring that the people's
voices are heard in the political process.
But how that's going to translate in terms of
either government formation or government
policy is to be determined:'
Asked to comment on a statement by
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who
reportedly said that the election results were
an indication that the peace process with the
Palestinians is not on the Israeli public radar,
Nuland said she had no "indication from

Israel that that is the case:'
Despite repeated requests by reporters to
comment on the election results, Nuland
refused to speculate as to how they are going
to translate into either coalition formulation
or the policies of the government "until the
Israelis have had a chance to make those
decisions:'

❑

Yoe/ Goldman contributed to this report.

For a related editorial, see page 49.

Israel's Center Seems To Hold

F

or Israel observers, the Israeli elec-
tions held a number of surprises.
Israelis turned out in large numbers
— 67.7 percent, as compared with 59 per-
cent of U.S. citizens who voted in the recent
presidential election. But instead
of security issues, domestic social
issues seemed to have been
uppermost in the minds of many
voters.
There have been a number of
divisive issues in Israeli domes-
tic politics that have been left
unresolved for decades, avoided
because of the lack of a consensus
and deferred as secondary to
security
One issue is the resentment
among many Israelis that some
segments of the society — specifi-
cally, the ultra-Orthodox — are not drafted
into the military like most other citizens.
Equal service by the ultra-Orthodox became
a central plank in the platform of the new
Yesh Atid party. In addition, economic issues
affecting the middle class, especially the high
housing costs, which led to mass protests in
the streets of Tel Aviv in summer 2011, were
also on the minds of Israeli voters.
The result was a surprisingly strong show-
ing for Yesh Atid, which won 19 seats, and
for center and left-of-center parties more
broadly, which won 59 seats, along with the
Palestinian Israeli parties.

26 January 31 • 2013

Israeli disaffection with the government's
perceived lack of responsiveness to their
concerns was evident in the strong showing
by Yesh Atid, led by Yair Lapid, a TV per-
sonality and journalist who has never gradu-
ated from high school and has
no government experience, and
whose entire list is comprised of
people who have never served in
the Knesset.
At the same time, Likud and
Yisrael Beiteinu together lost
11 of their Knesset seats, and
Benjamin Netanyahu maintains
his leadership with the strategic
joining-of-forces with Yisrael
Beiteinu, headed by Avigdor
Liberman. The other party that
made significant gains was
Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish
Home), which won 12 seats, led by the
other relative newcomer, 40-year-old Naftali
Bennett, who supports the growth of settle-
ments in the West Bank and the annexation
of Area C of the West Bank to Israel.
Twelve parties won seats in the Knesset.
To form a majority, parties must combine to
control a total of 61 of the 120 seats. Thus, to
form the new government, Likud most likely
will have to enter a coalition with Yesh Atid
and additional parties, making the coalition
less right wing than some commentators
expected during the election campaign-
ing. Another possibility, however, is that

I VI-

111

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Israeli party leaders: clockwise from top left, Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), Yair
Lapid (Yesh Atid), Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Naftali Bennett (Habayit
Hayehudi).

Netanyahu allies with far-right parties like
Habayit Hayehudi and ultra-Orthodox par-
ties to create a more narrow — and therefore
less stable — coalition.
There are several reasons why secu-
rity issues did not dominate the agenda.
Security cooperation between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority has never been stron-
ger, and the cease-fire between Israel and
Hamas seems to be holding, so the immedi-
ate threat to personal safety has diminished.

While most Israelis say they are willing
to make concessions to achieve peace with
the Palestinians, some still distrust President
Mahmoud Abbas, citing his refusal to nego-
tiate with Prime Minister Netanyahu until
settlement activity halts. They also would
be skeptical of any agreement made while
Hamas controls Gaza.
Therefore, most Israelis do not think peace

Israel's Center on page 28