(03/30/10) -

Kadima Takes First Place Among Israeli Voters

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Israel’s opposition Kadima party is ahead of the governing Likud, according to a poll by the Dahaf Institute published in Yediot Ahronot. A prospective tally of seats shows that Kadima would secure 32 seats in the Knesset, followed by Likud with 29.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Israel’s opposition Kadima party is ahead of the governing Likud, according to a poll by the Dahaf Institute published in Yediot Ahronot. A prospective tally of seats shows that Kadima would secure 32 seats in the Knesset, followed by Likud with 29.

Israel Our Home (Yisrael Beiteinu) is in third place with 13 mandates, followed by the International Organization of Torah-observant Sephardic Jews (Shas) with 10, and Labour with eight. Support is lower for United Torah Judaism (Yahadut Hatorah), Vitality-Together (Meretz-Yachad), National Union (HaIhud HaLeumi), and Jewish Home (Habayit Hayehudi). The Arab parties would secure 11 seats.

In February 2009, Israeli voters renewed the Knesset. The Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, secured 27 seats in the legislature. The far-right Israel Our Home, the Labour party, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and the Jewish Home joined Likud in a coalition. In March, Netanyahu was sworn in as prime minister.

Netanyahu served as prime minister from June 1996 to July 1999, and resigned from Ariel Sharon’s cabinet—where he held the finance portfolio—after opposing the "Disengagement Plan."

During the six-day war in 1967, Israel gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. Saudi Arabia has proposed the Arab Peace Initiative (API) to reconcile Israel and the Palestinians. The plan states that Israel will retreat from all territories occupied in 1967, and a Palestinian state would be established.

Earlier this month, Israel announced it would build 1,600 homes in the Ramat Shlomo area of eastern Jerusalem. The decision was criticized by United States state secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and vice-president Joe Biden, who was just arriving in Israel.

On Mar. 23, Netanyahu discussed the settlement issue with U.S. president Barack Obama in Washington. The two parties failed to reach a consensus and declined to draft a joint statement about the meeting. There were also no official pictures of the two heads of government together.

Upon his return to Israel, Netanyahu encountered a series of newspaper articles calling his visit to Washington a "humiliation" and an "ambush" by Obama. A Mar. 25 editorial in Haaretz read: "The prime minister leaves America disgraced, isolated, and altogether weaker. Instead of setting the diplomatic agenda, Netanyahu surrendered control over it. Instead of leaving the Palestinian issue aside and focusing on Iran, as he would like, Netanyahu now finds himself fighting for the legitimacy of Israeli control over East Jerusalem."

Polling Data

Prospective results of a Knesset election
(Results presented in seats)