Today: Yisrael Beiteinu, Likud to split up portfolios

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman today to discuss the formation of a coalition government.

Lieberman will ask Netanyahu to give him the Foreign Ministry portfolio and to keep Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann in office. In addition, Lieberman is expected to ask his faction be given the communications; industry trade and labor, and interior security portfolios.

Although Netanyahu has reportedly largely agreed to making Lieberman his foreign minister, he is thought to still be weighing the potential political damage the appointment of the hawkish politicians would do to the image of his government.

The Likud leader faces strong opposition from within his party. Former foreign minister MK Silvan Shalom told Netanyahu in a private meeting that the only portfolio he was interested in was the Foreign Ministry. He also reminded Netanyahu of a promise he had made to appoint Shalom to the position during the election campaign.

"Silvan will just have to understand the needs of the coalition government. It's true that Bibi saw in him his future foreign minister but without Lieberman there is no coalition," a Netanyahu aide said yesterday, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.

The ultra-Orthodox Shas party is expected to be offered the interior, housing, religious services and housing ministries.

Likud MK Gideon Sa'ar is expected to meet with representatives from Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu to finalize the coalition deal and work out an agreement over Yisrael Beiteinu's proposed bill to rescind rights of state benefits for those found guilty of treason.

Meanwhile, Labor members will today meet in Ramat Efal for a conference aimed at thwarting a potential move by party leader Ehud Barak to join Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government.

Attendants of the conference, organized by activists from Tel Aviv and the kibbutz movement, will be addressed by politicians such as Yuli Tamir.

"Rejecting the initiative to join the government is an existential issue," Tamir said yesterday. "If this attempt continues then the Labor Party will not be able to accept it and the party will split."

Barak is expected to meet with Netanyahu today but chances that the two will agree on forming a coalition seem slim because of the Likud leader's expected decision to agree to Lieberman's Friedmann demand, which many in Labor strongly oppose.