General elections will take place on 10 February

In the UK and international media today, most of the papers report that Kadima Chairperson Tzipi Livni took a lead for the first time in opinion polls over Likud Chairperson Benjamin Netanyahu. The latest poll was conducted after Livni announced that she had failed to form a coalition and recommended an early general election. In other news, the papers note that the US admitted to the attack on Syrian soil on Sunday, which senior US officials said targeted operatives who were smuggling insurgents into Iraq. BBC Online notes that the Israeli attorney general has called for an investigation into allegations of incitement by Jewish settlers against Israeli soldiers.

 

In the Israeli press, all papers note that President Shimon Peres addressed the Knesset yesterday and announced that an early general election will take place on 10 February 2009. Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post note that Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei yesterday praised Kadima leader Tzipi Livni for rejecting the demands set by the Shas party to join the coalition, which included a rejection of negotiations over Jerusalem. Haaretz and Ynetnews report that Head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, has accused Iran of blocking efforts by the nuclear agency to clarify Iranian ambitions to pursue nuclear weaponry. Both papers note that Israeli Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor met with Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin yesterday in Virginia. Meridor also planned to have a phone meeting with Democrat VP candidate Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reports that a newly deployed Palestinian security force in Hebron carried out its first raid, marking the latest steps in security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

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