Israeli party forms coalition to rule
JERUSALEM — Israel's centrist Kadima Party reached a coalition deal today with the left-center Labor Party, giving interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a government that will back his plan to draw Israel's final borders by 2010, Kadima Party officials said.
Olmert's Kadima Party won a March election, but does not have enough seats in the 120-seat parliament to rule alone. The party reached a deal Wednesday with the Pensioners' Party, and is expected to also bring in the more hawkish ultra-Orthodox Shas movement.
Olmert and Labor leader Amir Peretz were meeting to finalize the details. The parties were to sign the agreement later today, said Shmuel Dahan, a Kadima spokesman.
