DEBKAfile Special Report
February 12, 2009, 11:41 PM (GMT+02:00)
Binyamin Netanyahu
DEBKAfile's political sources report that in preliminary talks Wednesday, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu offered Kadima's Tzipi Livni the pick of 10 top portfolios for joining a government led by him. He has refused to consider rotating the premiership between them. Rather than leaning on right-wing support, Netanyahu hopes to coax both Livni and Labor leader Ehud Barak to join his administration.
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US-Syrian talks: Precursor for Obama's dialogue with Iran?
February 12, 2009, 11:43 AM (GMT+02:00)
US Senator John Kerry heads for Damascus
US Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, visits Damascus next week.DEBKAfile's Middle East sources disclose that Assad's actions in the past year, including his stalled indirect peace track with Israel, have focused on breaking through to good relations with the future Obama administration.
The new US administration is not giving Assad an easy ride.
Our sources report that Washington has expedited the convening of the special international tribunal for bringing the assassins of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, of which Damascus is suspected, to trial.
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Kadima's lead over Likud shrinks to one place, spelling unstable government
DEBKAfile Special Report
February 11, 2009, 1:08 PM (GMT+02:00)
Both claim the lead for forming the next government. Tzipi Livni's Kadima came out on top of Israel's general election Tuesday, Feb. 10, with 28 Knesset seats (out of 120)– only one place ahead of the 27 polled by Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud. He heads the right-of-center camp of 64 against the 56 of the center and left. Livni cannot form a government without Likud and defense minister Ehud Barak's Labor (13), unless her scant win is solidified by the still uncounted military votes. Neither can hope for a stable majority.
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