Free Preview of Members-Only Content

Israel's two main political parties struck a deal to prolong the current government's life the same day that Hamas' military wing split due to internal disagreements.

The two main parties in Israel’s coalition government, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s Kadima and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Labor, struck an 11th-hour compromise on Wednesday that prevented the collapse of the center-left government. Hours before a bill was to be introduced in the Knesset that could have led to the dissolution of parliament and thus early elections, Kadima agreed to hold primaries to elect a new party leader (who would also be the country’s new prime minister) by Sept. 25, and Labor backed away from supporting the parliamentary move toward early elections.

With Olmert refusing to step down because of the lack of progress in the bribery investigation he faces, Barak and his party could not afford to be seen as supporting a tainted government. Ideally, Barak would like to take advantage of Kadima being weakened and Olmert’s exit and have his party emerge as a senior partner in the center-left coalition. But that requires a fresh election — one in which his party gains more seats than Kadima. That is not an option, because Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, according to opinion polls, is likely to emerge as the single largest party in the Knesset in a fresh vote. Thus, for now, Barak will have to be content with having forced Olmert to agree to hold primaries for a new Kadima party leader, and sustain his current position.