No dictations. Netanyahu
Photo: AFP
Netanyahu: Unity cannot abide dictates
Prime minister-designate set to begin coalition talks, urges Kadima to join government. 'Agreements can't be reached by wrestling,' he says, stressing unity is his primary goal
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is set to begin his coalition deliberations later Sunday and has urged Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni to join his coalition, yet again.
"Faced with challenges like Iran, Hamas and terror, we have to reach an agreement via negotiations and not through arm wrestling. Unity cannot abide dictates," said the Likud head, alluding to far-reaching stipulations set by Kadima ahead of the coalition talks.
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Netanyahu and Livni are scheduled to meet Sunday evening in order to see if any common ground could be found between their two parties.
Netanyahu and Lieberman (Photo: AP)
Netanyahu also met with US Senator Joe Lieberman Sunday. The prime minister-designate told Lieberman, who is attending a series of meetings with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, that he was looking forward to working with the Obama administration in order to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Netanyahu knows that achieving any real progress in the Israeli-Palestinian avenue would be made twice as difficult should he lead a narrow right-wing government, which is why he is willing to go the proverbial extra mile in order to have Kadima in his coalition.
