Israeli government sworn in after last-minute delay

Israel's new government was sworn in last night but only after a two-hour delay in the Knesset vote as prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu scrambled to satisfy parliamentarians from his own Likud party, who were told which cabinet posts they would receive only hours before the vote.

The new government, the fourth headed by Mr Netanyahu, has a majority of only one in the 120-member Knesset and the opposition has vowed to fight the coalition on every vote.

Earlier this week, the Knesset voted to extend the number of ministers to 20 to allow Mr Netanyahu appoint 12 Likud ministers in addition to those from the smaller right-wing and religious parties, together with the new centrist Kulanu party, appointed during weeks of negotiations.

Herzog’s role

Mr Netanyahu is keeping the plum foreign affairs portfolio for himself and is likely to offer it to Labour leader

Yitzhak Herzog

at some future date as he tries to expand his government. Mr Herzog has ruled out joining a Netanyahu-led government but most analysts believe it will be just a matter of time before Mr Netanyahu tries to tempt him with an offer that may include some rotation of the premiership.

Despite the Americans and the Europeans pressing the new government to commit to a two-state solution, the coalition guidelines merely spoke of “advancing the peace process and working toward achieving peace agreements with the Palestinians and with all our neighbours while maintaining Israel’s security, historical and national interests”.

The Palestinian leadership has made it clear it sees little chance of achieving a diplomatic breakthrough with the new government, noting Mr Netanyahu’s statement during the campaign that a Palestinian state would not be established if he was re-elected prime minister. Mr Netanyahu latter backtracked, saying the circumstances were not right for such a development.

The growing frustration of the international community with the diplomatic deadlock was manifested again this week when the Vatican officially recognised a Palestinian state, following the example of some EU states. Israel warned that such a move would push the Palestinians away from the table. However, Nabil Shaath, an aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed the move, saying he expected other European states to follow suit.

The Ha'aretz newspaper reports strategic consultations between Israel and France last week deteriorated into arguments over French foreign minister Laurent Fabius's initiative to advance a two-state resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in the United Nations Security Council.