ISRAEL'S OLMERT AGREES TO ALLIANCE WITH HARD-LINER
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in a bid for political survival, struck an alliance Monday with a hard-liner who has called for stripping Israeli Arabs of citizenship, executing lawmakers for talking to Hamas and bombing Palestinian population centers.
Ref. cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/23/israel.olmert.ap/index.html
Israel to elect its new president
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, is to hold a vote shortly to elect the country's new president.
Ref. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/m...ast/6747517.stm
Israeli MP jailed for corruption
A court in Israel sentences an MP, Shlomo Benizri, to 18 months in jail on charges of bribery and corruption.
Ref. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/m...ast/7370289.stm
Elections in Israel always seem to be on a scale of equality. There is never a clear winner just many coalition governments. Anyone have some clear inside views as to why this is?
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 3232 100%
The answer now is geographic. Those in Tel Aviv are largely Kadima. They are tired of war and in general were interested in a peace agreement and more willing to make concessions. Then you have the population center in Jerusalem. They are definitely more hawkish and lean more towards Likud's platform. They really dont want to give up any land, in particular, any part of Jerusalem (which is always a sticking point of any deal. Geographically, Jerusalem is closer to enemies than Tel Aviv, so I think that also plays heavily on the Hawkish nature of those living in Jerusalem.
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 863 86.3%
Israel is facing a very bad prognosis of what will happen in the future:
Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan: "I believe our system is reaching a point where the government is almost incapable of running the country," Dagan warned. Ref. Source 6