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JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the conservative Likud Party, has been chosen to form Israel's next government, Israeli President Shimon Peres announced Friday. At a joint news conference with Peres, Netanyahu said he accepted the task and he is willing to work with the moderate parties of Labor, led by Ehud Barak, and Kadima, headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "We have different approaches in different areas, but we are all together in our desire to act for the good of the state," Netanyahu said. "We will be able to find the common ground to lead the state toward security, prosperity and peace." He said Israeli leaders need to unite as the country faces "great challenges," particularly from Iran, which he said "is developing nuclear weapons and poses the biggest threat to Israel since the war of independence." A U.N. report released this week found that Iran has enough uranium for a single nuclear weapon, but the uran...

"She can do it?" "It's too much for her?" "It's nothing for him?" What exactly are the technical specifications Israel's policy technicians require of the candidates to win the elections? Since there is widespread agreement that none of them are great leaders, at best capable of leading the Israeli wagon to the next traffic light, the only thing left to ask is whether the next prime minister will at least be able to comprehend the new traffic rules, which are set in Washington, Europe and even in the Arab states. This is because the next decision will not be about the candidates' ability to make a wise military decision at 3 A.M., but whether they can bite their lip and hold back. It will not be about their ability to command air force jets heading toward Tehran, but whether they can avoid issuing such an order. As such, a question that desperately begs an answer is how the next prime minister will respond to the possibility of a direct dia...

International attorneys have filed war crime charges against 15 Israeli political and military officials including Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni and Ehud Barak. Palestinian and international efforts continue to institute legal proceedings for the prosecution of Israeli officials in the commission of war crimes. Although Israeli forces are involved in thousands of cases, local experts such as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights believe that the recent major attacks on the Gaza Strip will be successfully prosecuted. "They were well-documented, televised and the world was paying attention," a member of the Gaza City team commented. After the very public detection of large-scale atrocities which included the use of white phosphorus bombs in enclosed civilian areas and the liquidation of children there is little defense, PNN reported. Fifteen specific names are now pending for prosecution in The Hague's war crimes tribunal. Those listed for prosecution include Israeli politica...

WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran 's main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran's suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials. White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran's major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country's only known uranium enrichment plant is located. The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least tempora...