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September 19, 2008

Israeli PM Attempts to Unify Governing Party
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E46F16:A6F02AD83191E160F10E54FA0E7DA3A93CF5CDEF8FC051DA&
 
Tzipi Livni says there is no need to change set-up of Kadima's coalition
with ultra-Orthodox Shas Party 
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni s Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi
Livni has called a meeting of the governing Kadima Party to try to unify
the base after narrowly winning the party's leadership election. Livni
told party officials Friday there is no need to change the set-up of
Kadima's coalition with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party. Livni must form a
coalition in the coming weeks to be sworn in as prime minister. If she
fails, Israel is likely to hold a parliamentary election early next
year. She won Kadima's leadership contest Wednesday by just one
percentage point. Her rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, did not
attend the Kadima meeting Friday. He said Thursday that he was quitting
politics. Kadima chose a new leader to replace Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert, who plans to resign in the coming days to fight corruption
allegations. Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding
an election be called immediately, saying it would be the most
democratic way to pick !
 Israel's next prime minister. Livni met Thursday with Eli Yishai, the
leader of the Shas Party, Kadima's coalition partner. Shas officials has
established several conditions for remaining in the coalition. Shas
rejects negotiations on the status of Jerusalem and wants more funding
for welfare projects that benefit the party's low-income supporters.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its eternal capital, while
Palestinians demand the city's eastern sector as the capital of a future
Palestinian state.