The bittersweet history of Bibi and Yvet

Yisrael Beiteinu's Avigdor Lieberman yesterday recommended Likud's leader as prime minister to President Shimon Peres, not just because he had the political strength to do so, but because he had to. Ten of his 15 Knesset seats came from Russian-speaking voters who want Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.

Netanyahu had promised the immigrants from the former Soviet Union that Lieberman would receive a senior portfolio in his cabinet. The remaining ballots were cast by Likud supporters who expected Lieberman to endorse Netanyahu as prime minister.

On his planned way to the prime minister's bureau, Lieberman cannot afford to annoy his "natural" followers, especially not in view of the police investigations against him. He will need all the public support he can get.

However, at his meeting with Peres, Lieberman qualified his endorsement of Netanyahu, reserving the option of remaining in the opposition. If the national unity government he recommended is not formed, Lieberman could present himself as the bigger man, who was sabotaged by small politicians and a cruel establishment that pinned false charges on him.

Lieberman and Netanyahu go way back. At the beginning of the week an associate of Netanyahu's said the Likud leader, "knows Lieberman loathes him and will try to make his life a misery every chance he gets."

"It's strange to see Bibi still believing that one day the two parties will merge, when it's clear to all that Lieberman won't do it," he said.

Today, 20 years after the two met, the power balance between them has shifted. Lieberman is an open political rival who intends to run for prime minister against the man who built him up.

To a large extent Lieberman owes his political career to Netanyahu, who dared to appoint a new immigrant with a heavy Russian accent first as head of his primary campaign in the Likud, then as Likud general manager.

After Netanyahu was elected prime minister in 1996 Lieberman was promoted to the most Israeli job of all - director general of the Prime Minister's Office.

Associates of the two men speculated that perhaps Netanyahu's estrangement from the old Israeli elites brought him closer to the man who became "Vladimir," the Russian thug in the satirical television puppet show "Hartzufim." Be that as it may, Lieberman soon became the most problematic element in the "coalition of minorities" that Netanyahu set up in the Prime Minister's Office.

The powerful director-general proved a trouble maker not only on the television screen. He had a series of run-ins with Likud ministers and was embroiled in several police investigations, even then. Forced to resign because of these inquiries in 1998, he returned to politics a year later as head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, which represented Russian speakers.

Despite the bad blood between them, Lieberman promised to bring the "Russian" vote to Netanyahu as his dowry in the election campaign. Netanyahu, however, chose to forge an alliance with Natan Sharansky, the leader of another party representing the Russian immigrants' interests.

Exactly 10 years later, Lieberman and Netanyahu are once again on the verge of cooperation. This time, however, the power balance is very different and each one of them is taking a much higher risk.