Communist Party of Australia

European Union diplomats warned Israel’s next government last week not to abandon the two-state solution as right-wingers continued coalition talks in Tel Aviv.

Israeli President Shimon Peres has asked hardline Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government.

Netanyahu has failed to convince Kadima leader Tzipi Livni to join his coalition and the centrist Labour Party has indicated that it wants to stay in opposition.

Netanyahu, who is reportedly wary of forming a narrow right-wing administration, has said that he would shift the focus of US-brokered peace talks away from “statehood issues.”

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini insisted that it was “not possible” for Netanyahu to ditch the two-state solution as the goal of Middle East peace talks.

And Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that Brussels should press Mr Netanyahu not to enter into a coalition which would call the two-state solution into question.

“I think it’s very important that we send a strong signal that that is not going to be acceptable,” he said.

Morning Star.

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