Hard-line Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, declared a narrow winner over Shimon Peres in the race to become Israel’s next prime minister, was already engaged Friday in talks on forming a new government.
A dramatic count by the Central Election Committee disclosed that Netanyahu, who was backed by Orthodox Jews, Israeli settlers and Russian immigrants, had toppled Prime Minister Peres with a margin of only 29,457 votes out of more than 3 million cast in Wednesday’s national voting, Israel Radio said.
Netanyahu visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City to give thanks for a victory margin of .9 percent of the vote that could change the course of how a Mideast peace is pursued and bring new Zionists into government with a renewed commitment to guarding the land of Israel.
The burly former commando has already started meetings with advisers to pull together a stronger governing coalition than the one led by Peres’ Labor Party. It could be the most conservative, religious government in Israeli history.
President Clinton, who had hinted a strong preference for Peres, immediately telephoned Netanyahu on Friday to congratulate him and invited him to Washington to discuss the next stage of the peace process and forge a new partnership, the White House said.
Netanyahu, 46, said he would accept the invitation after forming his new government, which he has 45 days to do. Netanyahu also telephoned the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, the two Arab states that have already signed treaties with Israel, and pledged to promote the peace process.
Clinton also telephoned Peres, 72, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning architect of U.S.-backed accords with the PLO and Jordan, and expressed “deep personal regard and appreciation” for his leadership toward Mideast peace.
The victory by the opposition Likud candidate was a blow to the Clinton administration’s peace policies, which are at odds with Netanyahu’s goals. He favors building up settlements in the occupied territories, opposes land-for-peace swaps and refuses to negotiate with the Palestinians over the status of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu defeated Peres by a margin of 50.4 percent to 49.5 percent, officials said, but the result will not be official until published in the government gazette next Thursday.
Known to Israelis by his nickname, “Bibi,” the U.S.-educated Netanyahu has made no speech yet accepting victory, but he is already working behind the scenes to manage an array of special interest parties who will be bargaining for places in his government.
Political advisers issued his first statement affirming he is “deeply committed to the attainment of peace with security between Israel and its neighbors, including the Palestinians,” and added: “He is also committed to the deepening and strengthening of peace relations between Israel and those Arab states with whom we already have neighborly relations.”
Netanyahu will become the youngest prime minister in Israeli history, replacing a member of an older generation that shepherded the nation to independence in 1948.
Peres told reporters Friday his Labor Party would continue to “support the peace process wherever it shall be, and we shall oppose any attempt to stop it. We shall remain loyal to our path.”
But the defeat was devastating for Peres, who has tried and failed to win power in an election on four previous occasions, rising to become prime minister twice after his predecessor stepped down or was assassinated.
With Israelis as deeply divided as ever over his policies, Peres, for all his experience and service to the nation over the decades, could not inspire enough confidence to win on his own.
The elections officials gave this final tally of seats won in the 120-member Knesset: Labor, 34; Likud, 32; Shas, 10; National Religious Party, 9; Meretz, 9; Yisrael Ba-Aliya, 7; Hadash, 5; United Torah Judaism, 4; Arab Democratic Party, 4; Third Way, 4, and Moledet, 2.
Many Palestinians are nervous about the Netanyahu victory, fearing Likud’s hard-line policies will lessen chances of reaching a permanent settlement and undermine support for Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat if he cannot show progress.
Already, there were signs of this happening on Friday when Ariel Sharon, a Likud member of the Knesset and a former hard-line defense minister, declared on Israel Radio that the Likud may not carry out the planned redeployment of Israeli troops out of Hebron, as called for in an interim accord.
Sharon, who is in line for a Cabinet post in the new government, said if Israel determines it cannot safeguard its citizens in Hebron, then its security concerns would take precedence over the accord.
Moving to allay Arab fears of his policies, Netanyahu sent a message to senior PLO official Mahmoud Abbas, expressing his readiness for a resumption in talks after his government is presented in mid-July.
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Among the parties who will be seeking to join the coalition in exchange for Cabinet and other posts and commitments to their pet issues will be Yisrael Ba-Aliya, the new immigrant party formed by former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky.
“These Russians are the new Zionists ready to carve a new and different Zionist ideal from the older one that was more European and socialistic,” observed Joseph Lerner, director of Independent Media Review and Analysis, which monitors Israeli public opinion.
The idea of Israel as a melting pot has been somewhat shattered by this election, because Sharansky’s party is seeking to promote immigrant needs and social issues, along with goals of a more liberalized economy and rights to civil marriage and burial.
That puts him at odds with at least some of the other constituencies Netanyahu must court in building his coalition, particularly the block of three religious parties that increased their total of Knesset seats to a total of 23.
Among their goals will be putting pressure on Netanyahu to return strong government backing for Jewish tradition in Israel in exchange for their support. They will also be demanding that their leaders be awarded key jobs as ministers and seats on Knesset committees controlling spending.
While these parties–Shas, National Religious Party and United Torah Judaism–have their own self-interests, it would please the Orthodox to see streets closed in Jerusalem or a ban on entertainment, for example, during the Sabbath, which might force Netanyahu to close movies and restaurants.