Labour likely to press Kadima for negotiation with Palestinians

The dovish Israeli Labour Party's emergence from this week's election as the likely key coalition partner of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party will boost chances for negotiations with the Palestinians and slow Mr Olmert's move towards unilateral steps in the occupied West Bank, analysts said yesterday.

During its campaign, Labour placed far greater emphasis on negotiations with moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas than on Mr Olmert's idea of a unilateral withdrawal, saying it wanted to build up the strength of moderate Palestinians.

'I believe in negotiations. An Israeli leader who doesn't try negotiations before he starts unilateral action is irresponsible,' said Labour leader Amir Peretz.

'Even if there's only a crack for negotiations, you have to widen it, and I am an expert in widening cracks to open doors. That's my profession and I intend to exploit it,' the former union leader added.

By contrast, Kadima's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, described Mr Abbas as 'irrelevant' after Hamas' victory in January's legislative polls.

But Mr Olmert softened the tone during his victory speech on Tuesday, saying Israel wanted to give diplomacy a try before taking unilateral action. While Mr Olmert has spoken of gaining US backing for annexation of the large West Bank settlements, Mr Peretz has distanced himself from imposing Israeli sovereignty there, saying any Israeli disengagement would be a security matter, not a political one.