Livni continues to build coalition

The Israeli foreign minister continues to press ahead with efforts to secure a ruling coalition.

The Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni pressed ahead with efforts to secure a ruling coalition today, a day after delivering her first foreign policy speech since being named to form a new government. Elected on Sept 17 to replace the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the head of the Kadima party, Ms Livni needs to put together a governing coalition if she is also to take over as premier while averting a snap election.

She planned to meet today with leaders of two religious parties - the Shas, which has 12 mandates in the 120-seat parliament, and the United Torah Judaism, which has six MPs - according to reports. Yesterday, she held talks with the defence minister Ehud Barak, who leads the Labor party, the main ally in the governing coalition, with 19 seats in the Knesset. Kadima has 29 mandates. Ms Livni, 50, a former Mossad spy, was formally asked by the President Shimon Peres on Sept 22 to form a new government, after she took over as Kadima chairman from Mr Olmert who stepped down as police recommended he be indicted over graft allegations.

At a conference organised by her ministry yesterday, she delivered her first foreign policy speech since the Kadima election. "Israel wants to achieve peace with all its neighbours, including the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese. Israel wants to achieve peace and normalisation with all the Arab countries," she said. She also said Iran, which Israel considers a strategic threat, is an issue that should be dealt with at the international level.

"Iran is not just a problem for Israel, it is not just a problem for the region," she said. "We must act together ... We must fight it." Israel, widely considered to be the only nuclear armed state in the Middle East, believes Iran is seeking to build a nuclear arsenal. Tehran insists its nuclear drive is entirely peaceful but has been under international sanctions and the threat of more over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment work.

*AFP