Labour Party joins Netanyahu coalition in Israel

August 25th, 2009 Netanyahu seeks compromise with US on settlementsLONDON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will seek a compromise in talks with the United States that would allow Israel to proceed with some settlement construction while restarting peace talks with the Palestinians. Israel's leader is on a four-day European tour and will meet his British counterpart Tuesday.

June 14th, 2009 Netanyahu accepts limited Palestinian stateJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday called for creation of a limited Palestinian state for the first time, saying it would have to be disarmed. Netanyahu made the call during a major policy speech about his Mideast peacemaking intentions.

June 14th, 2009 Netanyahu to endorse Palestinian independenceJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time will endorse the notion of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, top aides said Sunday, giving in to heavy U.S. pressure to drop his long-standing opposition to Palestinian independence.

April 1st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party signed a coalition agreement with a fifth partner, the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Wednesday, a day after his government was sworn in. The agreement was signed after last-minute differences were ironed out, Israel Radio reported.

April 1st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's Knesset Tuesday night approved the government presented by incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a vote of 69 in favour to 45 against. There were no abstentions, but five legislators from the Labour Party, a coalition ally of Netanyahu's, refused to participate in the vote, although they were present in the plenum.

March 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu Friday asked Israeli President Shimon Peres for a two-week extension to form his government. Netanyahu arrived at Peres' Jerusalem residence to make the formal request.

February 23rd, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu met outgoing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Sunday night in an attempt to bring her Kadima party into the government he is attempting to form. It is the first meeting between the two since the Feb 10 elections, in which the centrist Kadima won 28 of the 120 Knesset seats at stake, one more than that won by Netanyahu's hardline Likud Party.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's President Shimon Peres is to ask the head of the country's right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a government, an official said Friday. Netanyahu has earlier said he was ready to form a coalition with the centrist Kadima party of his main rival Tzipi Livni.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - The head of the right-wing Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Friday he was ready to form a coalition in Israel with the centrist Kadima party of his main rival Tzipi Livni. Netanyahu was speaking after a meeting with President Shimon Peres in an effort to build a grand coalition.

February 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US remains optimistic about achieving peace in the Middle East, regardless of what Israeli government coalition emerges from elections held this month, the State Department said Friday. Spokesman Gordon Duguid, reacting to the news that Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked with forming the next Israeli government, also said Israel would continue to be a close ally of the US.

February 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israel's President Shimon Peres tasked Benjamin Netanyahu Friday with forming a new government, ending speculation which had persisted since Israel's inconclusive general election last week. Although Netanyahu's hardline Likud Party had won only 27 of the 120 Knesset seats (Israeli parliament) at stake in the election, one fewer than won by the centrist Kadima party of Tzipi Livni, he is seen as having the best chances of forming a governing coalition.

February 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama intends to work toward Middle East peace regardless of who forms Israel's new government, the White House said Wednesday. 'President Obama looks forward to working with whoever makes up that next Israeli government in a search for lasting and durable peace in the region,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

February 10th, 2009 TEL AVIV - The only certainty to emerge from exit polls and the first official results in Tuesday's Israeli election is that nothing is certain. Three separate exit polls on Israel's three television news channels gave the centrist Kadima party of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni a sparse, two-seat lead over the hardline Likud of former premier Benjamin Netanyahu, and first initial results, which began trickling in after midnight, showed the margin closing to just one seat.

February 10th, 2009 TEL AVIV - The two largest parties to emerge from Israel's inconclusive elections Tuesday were quick to put out coalition feelers Wednesday, meeting with potential partners in a bid to gain their support and put together a government as quickly as possible. Both the centrist Kadima party of Tzipi Livni and the hardline Likud of Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in the elections, after all but final results - 99 percent of the votes - released Wednesday morning gave the former a one-seat lead over the latter, 28 to 27.

February 10th, 2009 TEL AVIV - All but final official results Wednesday morning showed no clear winner in Israel's national elections, promising tough and complicated coalition negotiations ahead. With all regular ballot boxes - or 99 percent of the votes - counted, the ruling Kadima party of centrist Tzipi Livni and the opposition Likud party of her hardline rival Benjamin Netanyahu were just one seat apart.