Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched talks with rightwing hardliner Avigdor Lieberman to join his coalition Wednesday, shattering the prospects of a unity government working for a Palestinian peace deal.

The surprise development comes after opposition head and Labour chief Isaac Herzog had indicated his willingness to join Netanyahu's rightwing-led coalition.

But Netanyahu's Likud party said he and former foreign minister Lieberman had decided to form negotiating teams for the latter's six-seat opposition Israel Beitenu to join the 61-member coalition.

Since forming his government a year ago, Netanyahu has not concealed his ambition to expand his razor-thin majority in Israel's 120-member parliament.

Months of secret talks between Netanyahu and Herzog, whose party forms the Zionist Union along with the centrist Hatnuah, made headlines in recent days.

The Labour leader insisted that a national unity government could help advance peace with the Palestinians, amid fierce opposition from members of his party to joining the coalition.
But in a press conference on Wednesday, Lieberman -- who since its inception in May 2015 has branded the coalition as "defeatist" -- said he would be open to joining Netanyahu's team if key demands were met.

Netanyahu summoned him to a meeting a short while later.

For his part, Herzog said Netanyahu was faced with "a historic choice" to "either embark on a journey of war and funerals" with Lieberman or choose a path of "hope for all (Israeli) citizens".

"We won't negotiate in parallel to Lieberman," he stressed.

Labour members criticised Herzog for what they termed his failed attempt to "crawl into the coalition", as reports emerged that Netanyahu had offered Lieberman the coveted defence portfolio.

In a stormy address later in the night, Herzog accused "violent extremist leftwing elements" in his party of thwarting his talks with Netanyahu thus paving the way for Lieberman to join the government, vowing he would make things for the coalition "a nightmare".

- History of controversy -

Lieberman's entry into the government would be closely watched by the international community and the Palestinians.
In remarks made just a month ago, he said that if he were defence minister, he would give Hamas's Gaza leader Ismail Haniya "48 hours to return the soldiers' bodies (from the 2014 war) and (Israeli) civilians (held in Gaza), or you're dead". 

Himself a settler, Lieberman has long expressed mistrust in Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and called for his removal.

The former foreign minister also has a history of controversial statements about Arab Israelis. In March 2015, Lieberman said of Arab Israelis who are "against us" that "one must take an axe and chop their heads off".

The Palestinian Authority ensuingly demanded his arrest and prosecution before the International Criminal Court, to which Lieberman responded: "They will get an answer to that from me as defence minister."

The current defence minister is Moshe Yaalon, a level-headed former army chief of staff who has been at loggerheads with Netanyahu after insisting that senior military officers should "speak their mind".

His remarks were perceived as a public show of support for Major General Yair Golan, deputy head of the armed forces, who enraged Netanyahu with comments comparing contemporary Israeli society to Nazi Germany.

The outspoken Lieberman has publicly supported a soldier accused of manslaughter for shooting dead a wounded and prone Palestinian assailant, in contrast to both Netanyahu and Yaalon who condemned the killing.
Sitting in the courtroom with the soldier's family during initial hearings, Lieberman said he sought to "balance the crude intervention of the prime minister and defence minister" in the case.

The stocky 57-year-old Moldova native stepped down as foreign minister in 2012 for nearly a year to fight corruption charges, and in 2015 joined the opposition ranks.

Ministers from the Likud were swift to welcome the move to join Lieberman to the coalition and afford it  stability.

Many of the more hardline ministers had been critical of Yaalon's conduct as defence minister, demanding harsher measures against Palestinians in the recent wave of violence.

But Benny Begin, a veteran and respected Likud member, lashed out at the idea of Lieberman being appointed defence minister, calling it "delusional" and "irresponsible" on Channel 2 television.

Source: AFP