Barak aides: If Justice Min. stays on, Labor will join opposition

Associates of Labor chairman Ehud Barak on Saturday said if outgoing Daniel Friedman stays on as Justice Minister, Labor will halt coalition talks and join the opposition.

The associates said this scenario could happen if Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu is given the Justice portfolio.

Science, Culture and Sport Minister Raleb Majadele, meanwhile, said Saturday that Labor "accepts the decision of the voter and will go to the opposition." He made the comments during a conference in the Israeli Arab town of Baka al-Garbiyeh.

On Friday, aides to Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman denied that the pair had agreed on the allocation of positions in Israel's next cabinet.

Netanyahu spokesman Yossi Levy said the prime minister-designate only intended on handing out cabinet roles to his coalition partners toward the end of next week. After that, Levy said, Netanyahu would decide upon positions for members of his own Likud party.

Only then does Netanyahu plan to present his government, "and any other information is incorrect," Levy added.

Yisrael Beiteinu spokeswoman Irena Ettinger also denied the reports, saying that no agreement on cabinet posts was reached in a meeting between Netanyahu and Lieberman on Thursday.

There denials came after Haaretz reported on Friday that Lieberman, who Thursday emerged as the most likely candidate to replace Tzipi Livni as Israel's foreign minister, intends to demand that Netanyahu grants him "full autonomy" in the new post.