Click above for a look at the key parties and figures in Israel.
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Philosophy/Guiding principles
This centrist party is headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and won 29 seats out of 120 in parliament in the last elections. Kadima was founded in 2005 by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and attracted other leading politicians.
Key figures
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, born in September 1945, was a longtime Likud stalwart and the former mayor of Jerusalem. He replaced Sharon after the latter man's stroke. Olmert served as finance minister after Netanyahu resigned in August 2005 and was among the first politicians to leave Likud for Kadima. Olmert lost power and prestige after what many saw as the mismanaged war against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.
Tzipi Livni is second in the party to Olmert and a former justice minister and immigration minister. Livni, a very popular politician in Israel, was one of the more dovish members of Likud before her defection to Kadima.";
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Philosophy/Guiding principles
This left-of-center party, which won 20 seats in parliament, supports withdrawals from the West Bank. Its members tend to be secular and the party is a strong supporter of the country’s welfare state.
Past leaders included former prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
Key figures
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was elected leader of the party in June, 2007, replacing incumbent leader Amir Peretz, who was criticized for his role in the 2006 war in Lebanon.
Another prominent Labor leader is Shimon Peres, 83, a former prime minister, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and an elder statesman of Israeli politics. In June, 2007, he became president of Israel.";
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Philosophy/Guiding principles
This right-of-center party opposes unilateral withdrawals supported by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and won only 12 seats in the new parliament. The party floundered after the 2005 Gaza pullout when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left to create Kadima, bringing with him many of the party’s most prominent figures, including Olmert. It is economically liberal; during his time as finance minister, party leader Benjamin Netanyahu implemented reforms aimed at undoing some of the country’s generous social programs.
Past party leaders include Menachem Begin, who signed Israel’s 1978 peace agreement with Egypt, and Yitzhak Shamir.
Key figure
Benjamin Netanyahu, 56, assumed the party leadership after Sharon left to form Kadima. A former prime minister, Netanyahu strongly opposed the Gaza pullout and resigned his post as finance minister in protest. Netanyahu opposes most territorial concessions and favors a tough stance against Hamas.";
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Shas
Shas, which became the third-largest party in the Knesset when it won 13 seats, is the country’s most powerful religious party and is mostly made up of Sephardic Jews. It strongly champions a religious state, religious education and state social programs. Its views on the peace process have been more flexible. The party leader, Eli Yishai, took over after the previous leader was convicted on corruption charges. Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadyah Yosef, also a renowned authority on Jewish law, is the party’s influential spiritual leader.
Yisrael Beitenu
This ultranationalist party was formed by Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union and is headed by hawkish Avigdor Lieberman. It has called for ceding Israeli-Arab villages to the Palestinians in exchange for Jewish settlement blocs. Economically, it backs a free market economy.
National Religious Party/National Union
This party, which won nine seats in parliament, opposes withdrawals from the West Bank and would be unlikely to join Olmert’s government. With heavy support from settlers, it is against a Palestinian state, heavily promotes a religious state and supports state-funded religious education.
Arab parties
Hadash, Balad and the United Arab List are left-wing parties that call for a total Israeli withdrawal from occupied land and represent the bulk of Israeli Arabs.
Together they won 10 seats in the parliament.
Pensioners
This party, now with seven seats in parliament, was a surprise election success. Headed by former spymaster Rafael Eitan, it was elected on a platform of improving retirement benefits for the elderly.";
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