VOA标准英语2009年-Israel in Political Limbo As Livni, Netanyahu E

（单词翻译）

Israel has been plunged¹ into political uncertainty² following Tuesday's national elections in which hardliner Benjamin Netanyahu and centrist Tzipi Livni are each claiming victory for their parties. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Livni's Kadima party is leading Mr. Netanyahu's Likud party by one seat in the Israeli parliament.
　
Election campaign posters for Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu, and FM and Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni are seen in Jerusalem, 09 Feb 2009

Final official results may not come until Thursday or Friday, after thousands of ballots³ cast by soldiers and diplomats⁴ abroad are counted. Even with all votes counted, no party could have an outright⁵ majority.

It will then be up to President Shimon Peres to decide who should form a coalition⁶ government, a process that could take weeks of political wrangling⁷.

What is clear in these elections is that Israeli voters, whose top concern in these elections was security, have largely swung to the right.
　
Avigdor Lieberman speaks during a meeting of his party in Jerusalem, 11 Feb 2009

The smaller, right wing Yisrael Beiteinu party led by Avigdor Lieberman - a former nightclub bouncer who ran on an anti-Arab platform - won a significant number of new seats in the parliament. His party's new clout⁸ could make him influential⁹ in the decision of who emerges as the new prime minister.

Lieberman says he has been in contact with both Benjamin Netanyahu and Tzipi Livni, whose parties received the most votes.

Speaking to his supporters early Wednesday, Lieberman called for a tough new approach to terrorism.

Lieberman said his party's priorities are clear. First and foremost, he said Israel must find a way to deal decisively with terror, and he said it must not be through negotiation¹⁰, direct or indirect.

The measures he proposes include re-drawing Israel's borders to exclude Arab Israeli communities and put them under the control of the Palestinian Authority. He also wants to force Israeli Arabs who reside within Israel's borders to pledge loyalty¹¹ to the Jewish State. About 1.4 million Arabs live in Israel.

Analysts¹² say Lieberman's message could resonate with the Netanyahu camp, which does not generally favor negotiations¹³ with the Palestinians and wants to topple the Islamist Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip.

Hebrew University Politics Professor Abraham Diskin says Mr. Netanyahu will likely be able to tap support among the smaller right-wing and centrist parties and secure enough parliament seats to form a government. But Diskin tells VOA Mr. Netanyahu will have to be cautious in pursuing a partnership¹⁴ with Lieberman if he wants to build a lasting¹⁵ coalition.

"These two personalities¹⁶ did cooperate before," he said. "Lieberman was the right hand of Netanyahu within the Likud but I think that a right-wing government is not to the like of Netanyahu because he will have six different partners and almost every partner has some extreme views and may endanger the stability of the government."

Those partners would include ultra-orthodox religious parties that are at odds¹⁷ with Lieberman's secular¹⁸ platform, which is viewed by some as anti-religious.

Observers say that with the losses suffered by the left-of-center factions¹⁹ in these elections, Tzipi Livni - who portrayed²⁰ herself as a peacemaker - could have a tougher time bringing together a coalition.