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| - Israeli politicians scrambling to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were locked in last-ditch talks on Wednesday to hammer out their "change" coalition composed of ideological rivals. As a midnight deadline approached, the leader of a party representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, Mansour Abbas, said he had signed on to give key backing to a coalition deal. Parties were locked into gruelling talks in a hotel near Tel Aviv that would determine whether a viable alliance would be formed in time. Netanyahu's opponents have until 11:59 pm (2059 GMT) to forge a coalition that would end 12 straight years of rule by Israel's longest-ruling premier. In front of the hotel where the negotiations are taking place, hundreds of pro and anti "coalition of change" demonstrators gathered under a strong police presence, according to an AFP journalist. The high-stakes push for a new government is led by opposition leader Yair Lapid, a former television presenter now heading a secular centrist party Yesh Atid. On Sunday, he won the crucial support of hardline religious nationalist Naftali Bennett, head of the Yamina "Rightward" party. Lapid has reportedly agreed to allow Bennett, a 49-year-old tech multi-millionaire, to serve first as prime minister before swapping with him after two years, halfway through their term. To reach a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, the unlikely alliance needs to include several other left and right-wing parties, and have the support of Arab-Israeli politicians. That would result in a government riven by deep differences on flashpoint issues, such as Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the role of religion in politics. If no coalition agreement is reached by the end of Wednesday, Israel risks heading back to the polls for a fifth general election in just over two years. To build the anti-Netanyahu bloc, Lapid must sign individual agreements with seven parties. They include the hawkish New Hope party of Netanyahu's former ally Gideon Saar, and right-wing secular nationalist Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party. Also part of the alliance would be the centrist Blue and White party of Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the historically powerful Labour party and the dovish Meretz party. With Abbas's late announcement of his support, the coalition gained four votes from the Islamic conservative lawmakers of his Raam party. Abbas, 47, said he had obtained budget allocations and pledges to help fight crime in Israel's 20 percent minority of Palestinian descent. "I just signed an agreement with Yair Lapid so that he can declare that he can form a government after reaching... agreements on various issues that serve the interest of Arab society," he said. Abbas's support will be the first such move by an Arab party in Israel in decades. Lapid, 57, leader of the Yesh Atid party, was tasked with forming a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu again failed to put together his own coalition following March elections, the fourth vote in less than two years. In a separate political development, the Knesset voted Wednesday on Rivlin's successor and elected Isaac Herzog, a former leader of the Labour party, as the country's 11th president, due to take office next month. Netanyahu wished Herzog "good luck" and Herzog, the prime minister's one-time opponent, replied: "I'll be happy to work with every government, no matter the leader." "Let's not get into it now," Netanyahu replied. Israel's latest political turmoil adds to the woes of Netanyahu, 71, who is on trial for criminal charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust while in office -- accusations he denies. If he loses power, he will not be able to push through changes to basic laws that could give him immunity, and will lose control over certain justice ministry nominations. The premier and leader of the conservative Likud party, who served an earlier three-year term in the 1990s, has long been the dominant figure of Israeli politics and was close to former US president Donald Trump. Netanyahu clinched historic normalisation agreements with four Arab states, and unrolled a world-beating Covid-19 vaccination campaign. But he has not engaged in substantive peace talks with the Palestinians, who have been angered by Israel's deepening control of areas they eye for a future state. Israel's latest political turmoil follows weeks of escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, which spiralled into an 11-day exchange of rocket fire from Gaza and devastating Israeli air strikes last month. Netanyahu on Sunday defiantly condemned the alliance against him as opportunistic and "the fraud of the century", warning it would result in "a left-wing government dangerous to the state of Israel". bur-dac/ah/pjm
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