Centrist Israel Party Outlines Coalition Conditions

YNet reports on the beginning of coalition negotiations in Israel, after voting concluded Tuesday for the country's 19th Knesset. Yair Lapid - chairman of the secular, centrist Yesh Atid party that secured second place in the election - is demanding that any government his party joins resume peace talks with the Palestinians and pursue universal draft legislation that integrates Israel's Arab and ultra-orthodox minorities into the army. Israeli analysts have noted that coalition negotiations will not be taking place on a level playing field: Lapid is a political neophyte, while Benjamin Netanyahu - whose Likud-Beiteinu slate topped the balloting, and who will almost certainly be asked to form Israel's next coalition government - is set to become among other things Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister.