Olmert’s coalition shrinks

JERUSALEM — A right-wing party quit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s governing coalition Wednesday in protest of the revived peace talks with the Palestinians, but the move poses no immediate threat to his rule.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) faction, said he opposed an approach that sought peace through territorial concessions.

“Negotiations on the basis of land for peace are a crucial mistake,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, three Palestinian civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed in what Israeli military officials said was an errant missile strike. The boy’s father and another man also died, Palestinian officials said.

The air assault targeted a vehicle carrying gunmen involved in cross-border rocket attacks but hit the wrong car, said army Maj. Avital Leibovich. She said officials were investigating.

Lieberman, a polarizing figure who held a specially created Cabinet post as minister for strategic threats, had threatened to withdraw if peace talks broached issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as control over Jerusalem.

Olmert said he would continue negotiating with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Lieberman’s party holds 11 of the 120 seats in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, and his exit may undercut Olmert’s freedom to bargain with the Palestinians to some degree. But the prime minister’s coalition, anchored by his centrist Kadima party, still represents a stable majority of 67.

“The coalition that Olmert had was oversized. Losing Lieberman doesn’t bring him anywhere close to losing his majority,” said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The departure could add pressure on a second right-wing coalition member, the religious Shas party, with 12 seats, to follow suit. Shas leaders have taken a less strident line than Lieberman on the peace talks but made it clear they would oppose concessions on Jerusalem.

Some Israeli commentators said Lieberman’s departure would encourage Olmert’s biggest partner, the left-leaning Labor Party, to stay put in order to further peace talks. Olmert could also reach out to the leftist Meretz party, with five seats, to ensure a majority if Shas leaves.

Olmert faces a key test this month when an investigative panel issues its final report on his government’s performance during Israel’s inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. Harsh findings could revive calls for his ouster.

Politically weakened by the war, Olmert added Yisrael Beiteinu to the coalition in part to help quell criticism from hawks. But Lieberman, a Soviet emigre, was a restive ally despite reportedly good relations with Olmert.

Lieberman has drawn charges of racism by proposing handing over areas of Israel populated by the nation’s Arab citizens to Palestinian control in exchange for Israel keeping portions of the West Bank where Jews live.

Olmert and Abbas pledged during a U.S.-sponsored conference in November that they would strive to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008. Lieberman repeatedly warned against delving into the conflict’s most sensitive issues.

In other developments Wednesday, rocket salvos against Israel continued a day after Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip killed at least 18 Palestinians, most of them fighters.

The Israeli army said militants fired more than 60 Kassam rockets and mortar rounds from Gaza toward southern Israel on Wednesday.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot and killed an Islamic Jihad commander during an arrest raid near Jenin.

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