Netanyahu signs up partners for govt

JERUSALEM, May 2, (AFP): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made strides toward forming a new government on Wednesday, signing coalition deals with two parties, a week before the deadline to present a cabinet.

His Likud party won a surprise victory in a March 17 election but its 30 parliamentary seats, although the most of any single party, still left him the task of forging a majority in the 120-member legislature in order to govern.

He inked alliances with the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party and the centre-right Kulanu, putting a combined total of 46 seats under his command.

Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon, who campaigned on a platform of social reform, was promised the finance portfolio, statements from his party and Likud said.

“In the forthcoming government we shall press ahead with reforms on housing, banking and work to narrow the gaps in Israeli society,” they quoted him as saying at the signing ceremony.

Public radio said early Thursday that Kulanu would also receive the environmental protection and construction ministries.

A separate Likud statement announced the agreement with UTJ.

“I think that the agreement we reached is a good agreement,” it quoted the ultra-Orthodox party’s Yaakov Litzman as saying.

Ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar HaShabat said the deal included the contentious repeal of legislation enabling criminal sanctions against draft dodgers.