Israel’s election: The battle between change and anti-Palestinian sentiment

With Israel’s governing and opposition blocs failing to secure a majority in Israel’s election, and neither appearing ready to ally with Arab parties that could allow them to form a coalition, speculation is growing over the future shape of the government.The vote on Tuesday, billed as one of the most important in Israel’s history, saw turnout reach 77.7 percent of eligible voters – the highest level since 1999.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Netanyahu outlines achievements, future plans as Likud leads Israeli pollslist 2 of 4Israeli right makes provocative statements as election votes are countedlist 3 of 4Israel’s stock market drops as exit polls show no clear election winnerlist 4 of 4Can you form Israel’s next coalition government?end of listWith nearly 80 percent of votes counted by Wednesday afternoon, the outgoing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, centred around his Likud party, had secured 54 seats, short of the 61 needed to establish a governing coalition.Former military chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot’s self-styled Zionist opposition, drawing from parties as diverse as Yair Golan’s relatively left-wing Democrats and Avigdor Lieberman’s hard-ri...