Hawkish Party Leaves Israel's Ruling Coalition

JERUSALEM, Jan. 16 -- A hawkish faction of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition pulled out of his government Wednesday following the start of talks this week over how to resolve the most vexing issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yisrael Beiteinu, or Israel Is Our Home, withdrew its 11 lawmakers from Olmert's coalition, leaving his government in control of 67 of parliament's 120 seats.

The move, often threatened over the past year of preparation for a new round of U.S.-backed peace talks, was in protest over the start of talks on the future borders of a Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, and the right claimed by Palestinian refugees to return to homes inside the Jewish state.

"Any negotiation on the basis of land for peace is a fatal mistake," said Avigdor Lieberman, who heads Israel Is Our Home, a party with broad support among immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet republics.

Lieberman's departure now gives a hawkish religious party, Shas, enormous clout within Olmert's governing coalition.

Shas, comprising mostly Sephardic Jews and poor secular Israelis, has warned it would remove its 12 lawmakers from the coalition if Olmert compromised on "core issues." Such a move could collapse the government and trigger elections, scuttling the Bush administration's goal of brokering a peace deal by the time it leaves office.

But Yaron Ezrahi, a Hebrew University political science professor, said, "It is better for Olmert that Lieberman leaves now, over the talks on core issues, rather than leaving following the Winograd report."

The Winograd Committee is examining Israel's conduct of its war against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the summer of 2006. Last year, the committee issued an interim report that accused Olmert and senior military and defense officials of mishandling the war. Its final report is due soon and could recommend changes in the government.

By allowing Lieberman to leave now, "Olmert is sending a message to the Labor Party that he is serious about talks with the Palestinians," Ezrahi said, referring to the prime minister's largest coalition partner and supporter of the peace talks. Olmert could then reach out to the dovish Meretz party or another religious party for support.

Lieberman's move came as the Israeli military continued its operation in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian gunmen have been responding to recent raids with a barrage of rocket fire into southern Israel.

Palestinian health officials reported that six Palestinians, among them three civilians, were killed Wednesday in the operations. Muawiyah Hasanein, a Palestinian health official in Gaza, said that Israeli military strikes the previous day killed 18 Palestinians, most of them gunmen from Hamas, and left two others "brain dead."

Israel launched four airstrikes Wednesday targeting Palestinian fighters. One hit a truck east of Gaza City, killing three civilians. The Popular Resistance Committees, a small armed group behind much of the rocket fire, said the Israelis were targeting several of its men who were driving a similar vehicle at the time.

Relatives identified the dead as 12-year-old Amir Yazgi, his father, Mohammed, and his uncle, Amr, according to Hasanein, the Palestinian health official.

The Israeli military said 50 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza on Wednesday, 19 of them landing inside Israel.

Special correspondent Islam Abdulkarim in Gaza contributed to this report.