Israel’s political parties decided on Tuesday to hold early elections on Feb. 10, a decision that will leave US-backed Middle East peace talks on hold for months.
“Following a meeting of the Knesset factions, it was decided that the elections will be held on Feb. 10,” Knesset spokesman Giora Pordes said, adding that parliament would adjourn on Nov. 11.
Both Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party of hawkish former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the two frontrunners for prime minister, had pressed for elections as soon as possible.
Israeli President Shimon Peres formally initiated the election process on Monday after Livni failed to form a new coalition.
Livni, 50, was elected Kadima leader last month and hopes to take over as prime minister from Ehud Olmert, who stepped down last month over graft allegations but remains caretaker prime minister.
Earlier on Tuesday, two Israeli ministers called for a freeze on already stalled talks with Syria and the Palestinians until a new government is sworn in.
“[Negotiations] cannot advance during the election period with us and the United States,” said Interior Minister and Kadima MP Meir Sheetrit.
“In the current political situation no agreement can be ratified by the transitional government and parliament. There can be no significant progress and the Syrians and the Palestinians understand this,” he told public radio.
National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, a senior Labour party member, said the interim government “cannot make strategic decisions affecting the existence of the state of Israel.”
“On security issues it must act, but as far as political issues are concerned it is better to wait for the results of the elections and the formation of the next government,” the former defense minister said.
Israel and the Palestinians formally relaunched peace talks at a US-hosted conference last November. Their goal was to end their decades-old conflict by the end of this year, but the talks have made little visible progress.
The White House nevertheless said on Monday it would press ahead with efforts to secure a full peace agreement by the time US President George W. Bush leaves office in January, despite Israel’s political uncertainty.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS