MIDEAST-ISRAEL-POLITICS-NETANYAHU-BARAK

(FILES) Israeli Likud party leader and prime minister-designate Bejamin Netanyahu (R) shakes hands with Defence Minister and Labour party leader Ehud Barak (L) prior to a meeting at a hotel in Tel Aviv on March 1, 2009. Israel went to the polls on February 10 but a new government has yet to be formed after a tight result between outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party and the right-wing Likud party of Netanyahu, who has been tasked with forming a new coalition. AFP PHOTO/DAVID FURST