A New Government For Israel Emerging After Elections

Welcome again to another edition of the Bible in the News--this time from our base in Canada. But our focus this week, is the same--Israel, and the political situation that is developing there. Well, according to The Jerusalem Post, Ehud Olmert has been asked by President Katsav to form the next Israeli government--but he has quite a task ahead of him. The complicated Israeli system, with so many different parties, means that Olmert must form a coalition government. He is currently bargaining with Amir Peretz, the leader of the Labour party, but even these two together will still not result in a majority government. Olmert will still have to bring in others--and that could scuttle some of his plans. Olmert is saying that coalition talks will probably be completed by the end of April or even early May--so that is still three or four weeks before the final picture emerges. We will then have a clearer idea of what might happen with the future of West Bank settlements.