Lieberman: Netanyahu will follow same policies in next government

Former Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said on Wednesday that the current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is going to form the upcoming Israeli government which will maintain the same policies regarding Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

The deputy chief of the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu candidates’ list wrote on his facebook page: “It would please us to sit with the Palestinians if they announced that they were ready to meet with us to discuss resuming negotiations. Of course, there must be no preconditions such as freezing settlement construction in the West Bank or Jerusalem, or any other preconditions.”

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The final results of the Israeli elections announced on Wednesday morning showed that the rightist Israeli coalition, Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu, won 31 seats – a dramatic decrease from the previous round. However, it remains the biggest party in the Knesset.

The second largest party is now the centre-left Yesh Atid Party led by the former journalist, Yair Labid, as it took 19 seats. Analysts expect that Yesh Atid will agree to join a coalition government led by Netanyahu and including other extreme right-wing parties which got small numbers of seats.

Observers say that according to its electoral program, Yesh Atid is not leftist. Palestinian specialist in Israeli affairs, Dr Saleh al-Na’ami, said: “The Israeli party, Yesh Atid, is no different than the other rightist parties as there are lots of similarities between their programs. Both call for more settlements in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley.”

Lieberman also wrote on his page: “We will continue ruling the state of Israel responsibly and safely. The choice of voters puts obligations on the government to concentrate on internal issues, including equality and price hikes. These are issues to be discussed with Yesh Atid.”

Lieberman said that the new government should adopt the Norwegian law which obliges members of the government to resign from the Knesset. “This will let them carry out their work in the best way,” he said.